Thom Hartmann writes: "The hot story in the Blogosphere is that the 'erroneous' exit polls that showed Kerry carrying Florida and Ohio (among other states) weren't erroneous at all - it was the numbers produced by paperless voting machines that were wrong, and Kerry actually won. As more and more analysis is done of what may (or may not) be the most massive election fraud in the history of the world, however, it's critical that we keep the largest issue at the forefront at all time: Why are We The People allowing private, for-profit corporations, answerable only to their officers and boards of directors, and loyal only to agendas and politicians that will enhance their profitability, to handle our votes? Maybe Florida went for Kerry, maybe for Bush. Over time... bloggers and investigative reporters are discovering an odd discrepancy in exit polls being largely accurate in paper-ballot states and oddly inaccurate in touch-screen electronic voting states."

Bush Unbound
04-Nov-04
Stolen Election 2004

Sid Blumenthal writes: "In the aftermath, Democrats will form their ritual circular firing squad of recriminations. But, finally, the loss was not due to their candidate's personality, the flaws of this or that advisor or the party's platform. The Democrats surprised themselves at their ability to raise tens of millions of dollars, inspire hundreds of thousands of activists, spawn extensive new organizations, attract icons of popular culture and present themselves as unified around a centrist position. Expectations were not dashed. Turnout vastly increased among African-Americans and Hispanics. More than 60 percent of the newly registered voters went for John Kerry. Those concerned about the economy voted overwhelmingly for him; so did those citing the war in Iraq as an issue. But the surge of the Democrats was more than matched. Using the White House as a machine of centripetal force, Rove spread fear and fused its elements."

An Election Spoiled Rotten
04-Nov-04
Stolen Election 2004

Greg Palast wrote on Nov. 1: "John Kerry is down by several thousand votes in New Mexico, though not one ballot has yet been counted. He's also losing big time in Colorado and Ohio; and he's way down in Florida, though the votes won't be totaled until Tuesday night. Through a combination of sophisticated vote rustling--ethnic cleansing of voter rolls, absentee ballots gone AWOL, machines that 'spoil' votes--John Kerry begins with a nationwide deficit that could easily exceed one million votes."

NY Times: "In a day of see-sawing court rulings, a federal appeals court ruled early today that the Republican Party could place thousands of people inside polling places to challenge the eligibility of voters, a blow to Democrats who had argued that those challengers would intimidate minority voters. The ruling, by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in Cincinnati, reversed two lower courts that had blocked the challenges just the day before. It also came as squadrons of lawyers from both parties in Ohio and other swing states, like Pennsylvania and Florida and New Mexico, were preparing for Election Day skirmishes that will include using arcane laws that allow challenges at the polls... Judge Rogers was appointed by President Bush. Judge Ryan was appointed by President Ronald Reagan. Judge Cole [who dissented] was appointed by President Bill Clinton."

"Several national news organizations defeated an attempt by Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell to prohibit exit polling within 100 feet of polling places. The ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Michael Watson granted a temporary restraining order that prevents Blackwell from blocking exit polling. The legal challenge was brought by ABC, CNN, CBS NBC, Fox News and the Associated Press."

Disgusting GOP Scheme Foiled in Ohio
02-Nov-04
Stolen Election 2004

Jay Bookman: "Recently, tens of thousands of new voters in Ohio were sent registered letters from the state Republican Party. If the targeted voters weren't home to sign a receipt when the mail carrier came -- if they were working, or at school, or serving in Iraq, for example -- they were left a note, telling them they would have to go down to their local post office during the work day to sign for and receive the campaign literature... You see, the registered mail was Step One of a sophisticated scam. Armed with a list of those who didn't pick up their registered letters, the state Republican Party initiated Step Two by filing legal challenges against their right to vote, claiming those voters either didn't exist or didn't live at those addresses. The idea was to force all 35,000 to either appear at Board of Elections hearings to prove their right to vote, or be stricken from the rolls. Fortunately, the whole thing collapsed at Step Three, when the challenge hearings were held."

Argus Leader: "Republican poll workers in Lake Andes were intimidating Native American voters on Monday, a federal judge ruled early today. Republicans may not write down license plate numbers or follow Native Americans from polling places during today's election, U.S. District Judge Lawrence Piersol ruled in a temporary restraining order. The ruling comes after Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle sued his opponent, John Thune, and the GOP in federal court in Sioux Falls on Monday, asking Piersol to stop what Democrats say was intimidation of voters. 'This ruling will hopefully ensure that every legitimate voter can vote free of intimidation on Election Day,' said Daschle spokesman Dan Pfeiffer."

Miami Herald: "With less than 12 hours before the polls open, Republicans laid the groundwork for a possible legal challenge to the presidential election with an eleventh-hour lawsuit questioning the accuracy of the voting rolls in Broward County, the most heavily Democratic county in Florida. In an emergency court hearing that ended at 8:30 tonight, Broward County Circuit Judge David Krathen ruled that the suit was groundless and he didn't want to micromanage the election'... Lawyers for the Kerry-Edwards campaign countered that Republicans could have pointed out potential problems with the voter rolls earlier in the elections calendar, and that Bush attorneys are resorting to last-minute legal maneuvering because they fear that the 2 million people who voted early in Florida are largely Democratic voters."

Voters Claim Abuse of Electoral Rolls
01-Nov-04
Stolen Election 2004

Greg Palast writes: "An Observer investigation in the United States has uncovered widespread allegations of electoral abuse, many of them going uninvestigated despite complaints of what would appear to be criminal attempts to manipulate voter lists. The allegations, which come just two days before Americans go to the polls in one of the most tightly contested elections in a generation, threaten to plunge Tuesday's count into a legal minefield and overshadow even the elections of 2000... One of the more serious claims is that no action has been taken in a complex fraud, where more than 4,000 Florida students were allegedly conned into signing a form which could lead them to be doubly registered and void their votes. The Florida Law Enforcement Department has told the complainants that it is too busy to investigate."

AP: "A federal judge issued an order early Monday barring political party challengers from polling places throughout Ohio during Tuesday's election. U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott found that the application of Ohio's statute allowing challengers at polling places is unconstitutional.... In a similar case, U.S. District Judge John Adams of Akron said poll workers are the ones to determine if voters are eligible... [Dlott] said the presence of challengers inexperienced in the electoral process questioning voters about their eligibility would impede voting. Dlott ruled on a lawsuit by a black Cincinnati couple who said Republican plans to deploy challengers to largely black precincts in Hamilton County was meant to intimidate and block black voters. Dlott said in her preliminary injunction order that the evidence 'does not indicate that the presence of additional challengers would serve Ohio's interest in preventing voter fraud better than would the system of election judges.' "

Stand, Be Counted, Vote
01-Nov-04
Stolen Election 2004

William Rivers Pitt writes: "John Ashcroft and his Justice Department have positioned themselves, by filing Friend of the Court briefs in Ohio, Florida and Michigan voter rights cases, to become the final arbiter of your right to vote... If there remain voters who will not go to the polls because they see no real differences between the candidates, two recent publicly-made comments may at long last end the argument... A report by Thomas DeFrank in Saturday's New York Daily News quotes a Bush/Cheney campaign official stating, 'Anything that makes people nervous about their personal safety helps Bush.' This campaign official went on to describe the appearance of bin Laden as 'a little gift' to the Bush/Cheney election effort. If voters are seeking to establish a difference between the candidates, these comments help to make that difference clear. Only one campaign looks to profit from the fears of the electorate. Only one campaign views the continued freedom of bin Laden as a gift."

Missing Ballots in West Palm Beach
30-Oct-04
Stolen Election 2004

Sun-Sentinel: "Amid a throng of complaints about an absence of absentee ballots, Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore agreed Thursday to rush them to some voters by overnight mail. LePore said she would expedite absentee ballots, on a 'case by case' basis, to local voters who are out of the county... LePore says her office already has mailed almost 115,000, compared to about 55,500 four years ago. But an untold number still haven't gotten those ballots, with little time left for mailing back and forth by the 7 p.m. Tuesday deadline to return completed ballots." Ain't this grand, has 'Lame Duck Lepore' engineered another debacle in S. Florida?

Michael Kane writes "A plan may be afoot to induce a national terror threat on Election Day to lower voter turnout and steal the election for Bush once again, but this time in a different manner.
At least three states have WMD/Terrorism Incident drills scheduled for Tuesday, November 2, 2004 - Election Day. As of May 8, 2001, Dick Cheney was placed in charge of managing all domestic preparedness related to Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). It is likely that Cheney will be managing all of the Election Day WMD/Terrorism Incident drills across the country. The presidential statement, which gave Cheney this power, also created the Office of National Preparedness.
FEMA's website makes the national announcement, but omits any dates, saying only that this is a training course that takes place over three 8-hour days. The course is headed by the Office of Domestic Preparedness...."

The Return of the 'Butterfly Ballot', This Time in Ohio
30-Oct-04
Stolen Election 2004

NYT: "Residents of Ohio's largest county, Cuyahoga, who are voting by absentee ballot this year have to solve a brainteaser. They were each given a ballot with candidates' names, arrows pointing to the right and small numbers. And they each got a punch card with hundreds of little boxes and a number inside each one. A voter is supposed to ignore the arrows on the ballot - which appear to be there by mistake - and punch out the chad in the box on the punch card whose number corresponds to the candidate selected. If, instead, the voter follows the arrow and punches out the chad in the box it points to - as would someone voting in person, with a machine to align the ballot and punch card - that vote could be counted for the wrong candidate, or no candidate.. more than 75,000 absentee ballots that have been requested in Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland... There is no way of knowing how many voters are simply punching the wrong holes and mailing their ballots."

Cox News: "In a bustling downtown conference room, the phones are ringing faster than the volunteers can grab them, as hundreds of people from Florida to New Mexico call daily to ask for help with voting troubles. With polls open already in a handful of states, the non-partisan Election Protection Program's call center is awash in complaints about polls that open late, voting machines that appear to erase votes, absentee ballots that never arrived and names that aren't on registration lists. The more than 2,000 calls so far are only a hint of what's to come when the polls open nationwide next week. 'We have a more attentive electorate,' said Scott Lyons, a recent law school grad who is the center's volunteer director... The project and its hotline number (1-866-OURVOTE), which are a response to the 2000 vote count breakdown in Florida, were set up by a coalition that includes the Lawyers' Committee on Civil Rights Under Law, People for the American Way and the NAACP."

"It's amazing what you can capture when your camera is turned on. This video shows what George Bush thinks of democracy. He was caught on video while governor of Texas. On November 2nd please join the army of volunteers who will keep an eye on our democracy. Volunteer here to submit video of disturbances outside polling locations. Enter your contact info and we will send you an email with more information. PLEASE NOTE: We are not asking people to videotape INSIDE polling locations. We want volunteers to monitor the intimidation where it happens -- on the streets outside the polling locations. "

WashPost: "A U.S. District Court judge yesterday effectively ended efforts by Republicans in Ohio to challenge the eligibility of tens of thousands of voters in one of the most closely contested states in this year's presidential race. Judge Susan J. Dlott in Cincinnati issued an order preventing local election boards from going forward with plans to notify challenged voters and hold hearings until she hears legal arguments tomorrow. But because her ruling means that those election board hearings cannot take place within the time frame state law requires before the election, Dlott's ruling killed the GOP effort that had targeted 35,000 voters." The downside is the Repugnants will still be able to send 3500 thugs to the polls on election day -- to intimidate voters.

Pentagon Suppressing the Overseas Vote
27-Oct-04
Stolen Election 2004

UK Guardian: "The panicked emails start flooding in, untold thousands of overseas voters still have not received their ballots - and clearly won't be able to get them back in time... Activists now fear that huge numbers of Americans overseas - both military and civilian - may be as disenfranchised as they were in 2000, when (many) ballots just plain never showed up... far from helping civilians, the Federal Voting Assistance Program has dragged its feet... The GAO excoriated the agency for losing thousands of overseas votes in 2000, but the FVAP insists it has corrected its problems this year. Frustrated civilian advocates, however, say the FVAP remains biased and ineffective. Despite reforms... it still has not shaken its Pentagon roots: It spends the bulk of its energy getting out a heavily Republican vote among half a million service people - but has failed the far greater numbers of civilians who tend to vote a different way."

Steve Cobble and Charles Shaw write, "Sadly, because the fight in 2000 was seen as between two candidates, the right wing successfully seized a tactic that has been the foundation of progressive change forever - massive, nonviolent, public protests on the side of justice and fairness. Not this time. This time, our energized activist base is watching. This time, let's use the same spirit and organizing tactics that worked so well for us on Feb. 2, 2003, when the whole world came together to say no to war. If fraud is apparent, we need to put people in the streets for justice on Nov. 3. We encourage everyone to come together with their local allies, schedule an event for the day after election day, and lay the groundwork for a public gathering." Sign the "No Stolen Elections" pledge (http://nov3.us )

"Appearing on the October 21 edition of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight, John R. Lott Jr., resident scholar at conservative think tank the American Enterprise Institute, claimed that the federal government's '[U.S.] Commission on Civil Rights did an extensive set of hearings [on voter disenfranchisement], they weren't able to identify even one person' who was disenfranchised in Florida during the 2000 election." Guess what? John Lott is a serial LIAR who was caught inventing statistics about guns, and even inventing a "student" named "Mary Rosh" to defend his LIES on the Internet. Lott also falsely claimed to be a law professor. Why did Lou Dobbs put Lying Lott on his show???

AP: "Counties across Alabama struggled to deal with a backlog of thousands of last-minute voter registrations as the state's longtime head of voter registration quit Wed. less than two weeks before Election Day. Secretary of State Nancy Worley's office also was attempting to sort out a record-keeping discrepancy that left uncertain the actual number of registered voters in the state - thought to be around 2.54 million. The seeming disarray led some would-be voters to wonder whether their vote would get counted on Nov. 2. "It looks like it's crooked," said Robert Wells, who moved to suburban Birmingham from Washington in September..."

Is it possible to get lower than this? "Students at U. Central Florida and two local community colleges claim they were duped into switching their party affiliations from Democrat to Republican, campus police officials said Tuesday. Fewer than 10 students have filed reports with UCF police saying they were approached by a middle-aged couple in the student union who asked for support in changing child molestation laws. The students filled out a form that asked for personal information, and some time later they received a notice from the county election supervisor's office that their party affiliation had been changed, said Sgt. Troy Williamson, a spokesman for the UCF police. Similar incidents have occurred at Valencia Community College in Orange County and Seminole Community College, Williamson said. 'They thought they were signing a petition to change child molestation laws,' Williamson said. 'They didn't realize they had changed their political party.' "

In the event of a stolen election, we will be able to immediately text message you with the latest news and update, using technology that was first developed for protesters at the DNC and RNC. 1) Simply create an account (click on login) 2) Click on Join More Groups 3) Select NOV3. Thanks for all your wonderful and inspiring work. Because of you, we are going to let the world know that North Americans are not asleep at the wheel. Tell all your friends, family members, co-workers and everyone else to join you -- it's -- time to wake up and make a difference!

AP: "Alachua County's elections supervisor gave more than 500 voter registration forms to local prosecutors because some people said their party affiliation was fraudulently changed to Republican by a student working for the GOP. Beverly Hill, Alachua's Democratic elections supervisor, last week began reviewing the forms collected at the University of Florida and other schools by Mark Jacoby, who worked for a contractor that signed up voters for the Republican Party of Florida. 'I decided it was fraud,' Hill said Tuesday, a day after she gave the forms to the State Attorney's Office in Gainesville... Jacoby handed in a total of 1,218 forms, Hill said. Of those, 510 named people who already were registered... Mindy Tucker Fletcher, a state Republican adviser, confirmed that Jacoby worked for Arno Political Consultants, subcontracted to register voters at central Florida college campuses..."

AP:"A voting expert testifying for the state agreed Tues. with an attorney for U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler that the nation's system of electronic voting is 'out of control'. The testimony came on the second day of trial by the Boca Raton Democrat, who wants to force the state to create a paper trail for touch-screen voting machines when recounts are needed in tight races... In the Ft. Lauderdale trial, voting expert Michael Shamos detailed the problems of electronic voting but stopped short of endorsing a paper trail. Shamos, a computer scientist at Carnegie-Mellon University, told a congressional committee in July that machine makers lack industry standards, testing is inadequate and no compulsory procedures exist for fixing problems. 'The system is out of control just about, isn't it?'Jeff Liggio, Wexler's attorney, asked on cross-examination. 'Yes,' Shamos responded in court. He said electronic voting processes "are much more out of control that anyone is willing to admit.' "

More GOP BLOCK THE VOTE
19-Oct-04
Stolen Election 2004

Philly.com writes "You'll be shocked, shocked, to learn that Philadelphia isn't the only place in battleground state of Pennsylvania where Republican officials sought to move polling places in heavily Democratic neighborhoods at the last minute -- a move that could cause some confused voters not to cast ballots on Nov. 2... Campaign Extra! is reporting that officials in Scranton, PA's Lackawanna County last week successfully moved 21 polling places over both citizen and Democratic objections. The GOP had just grabbed a 2-1 majority on the county's board of commissioners. Unlike Philly, there's no racial angle. But Democrats say that each one of the polling places are in districts that vote at least 60 percent Democratic."
It's pretty clear when George Bush or the GOP talks about Freedom and Democracy, they are lying.

Red Alert! Gop Election Theft In Ohio!
17-Oct-04
Stolen Election 2004

Hesiod blogs, "This is extremely serious and urgent. Everyone must do whatever they can to expose this, help the Ohio Democratic party, and contact the DNC and the Kerry campaign -- immediately! This could literally swing the election! 'The Lucas County Democratic Headquarters was burglarized overnight, and three computers, including the party's main system, were stolen. The computers contained highly sensitive information, including the party's financial information, names and personal phone numbers of hundreds of party members, candidates, and volunteers. The computers also stored e-mails from candidates that included discussion about campaign strategy. A second computer, belonging to an attorney-volunteer working to ensure voters' rights, also was taken, officials said. The headquarters on 1817 Madison Avenue does have an alarm system that volunteers believed they set late Monday when they left.' The thieves knew exactly what to steal."

It looks like there has been a Regime Change at the NY Times! On 11-12-01, the Times front page read: "Study of Disputed Florida Ballots Finds Justices Did Not Cast the Deciding Vote." In fact, that study - the Media Consortium recount of 175,000 NEVER-counted ballots - showed the opposite, namely that Gore won under 6 of 9 scenarios. Today, in its endorsement of John Kerry, the Times finally acknowledge the TRUTH: "the Supreme Court awarded [Bush] the presidency." Better late than never...

Progress Report: "As the election gets closer, the Republican Party has turned to voter suppression efforts to try to sway the election, by keeping voters 'off of the rolls and away from the polls' (http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/10/15/florida_voters/print.html). Paul Krugman has the latest rundown on Republican efforts to block the vote (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/15/opinion/15krugman.html). The Center for American Progress joined 23 concerned parties in a joint statement on how to protect the vote and uphold democracy (http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=200321) in the upcoming election. Voters should not be intimidated by fears of a stolen election. If voters don't get out and vote, the election will not be stolen but given away. Instead, everyone should get out and vote, vote early, and - to be safe - bring an I.D. Also, any voter experiencing problems on Election Day should call the Election Protection hotline, at (866)-OUR-VOTE."

Right now, millions of FEMA money is being channeled to residents of Miami-Dade County in So. Florida where there was little hurricane damage. A pay off in advance to help Bush steal election 2004? Think that's far-fetched? Think adgain! The Miami Herald discovered in 2002 that Bush had lavishly paid off FLA operatives who helped him steal election 2000 with plum federal jobs: "Although they now serve Bush in sharply different roles, they are among more than 50 political appointees {this is OBSCENE!] found to have served as [GOP] troops in the frantic Florida recount battle that followed the Nov. 7, 2000, election. Political patronage has long been a reward for campaign loyalty. But the distribution of plum jobs to those who worked in Florida after the 2000 election suggests that that service became a kind of political merit badge that carried a special benefit." And now Bush may be using a Florida tragedy as a source of payoff.

"Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, said Wednesday that the Bush-Cheney campaign is planning some October 'surprises' for challengers John Kerry and John Edwards. 'We've got a couple of surprises that we intend to spring,' Rove told ABC radio host Sean Hannity while explaining that he intends to wage an aggressive campaign no matter what the polls show." Let's guess some of the possible surprises: 1) some tall guy with a long beard is captured, and FOX breathlessly insists it's Osama... 2) a bullet is fired at Bush, and "terrorists" are blamed... 3) the Internet is shut down and "terrorists" are blamed... 4) the election is cancelled and "terrorists" are blamed... Visit octobersurprise.net for more predictions.

"Globalvision has re-released its award-winning COUNTING ON DEMOCRACY documentary on DVD complete with an 2004 update warning that the voting rights violations exposed in Florida in the 2000 election could happen again. Michael Moore... plans to be in the Sunshine State with his cameras on election day to insure that the 2004 election will not be stolen. Palast says the 'black out list on black voters,' a purge list of allegedly convicted felons is still being used to discriminate against black voters. He lashed out at the US press for not covering the story. Congresswoman Corrine Brown said there are double standards in election procedures with the US government criticizing other countries for electoral abuses still in effect in Florida. She was censured by the Congress for calling the 2000 election a coup-d'etat and said that Al Gore won the popular vote in Florida."

"In early June uniformed officers began knocking on doors and asking threatening questions of dozens of black voters who had been in contact with Ezzie Thomas. Several said the [Florida State Troopers] 'took-off their jackets and exposed their firearms', while questioning them. In at least one case, the officer crossed his legs and tapped a 9mm pistol sitting in an ankle holster while he asked detailed questions about the interviewee's reasons for voting absentee. (Absentee voting is a choice under Florida law, so one can wonder about the line of questioning.) 'I felt threatened, embarrassed and like I was being accused of being a criminal,' one interviewee, Willie Thomas, wrote in a statement. Many others told attorney Joe Egan later, that they 'no longer wanted to vote absentee', because they felt it was somehow 'illegal'... [Firefighter] Steve Clelland also noticed the officer tapping the 9mm pistol in his ankle-holster, as he let loose his barrage of questions."

Isn't this special! Cruella De Harris clone Glenda Hood continues to make it up as she goes, she "stepped in and submitted her own appeal which automatically suspended the court order, putting Mr Nader back in the running just in time for absentee ballots to be posted to 50,000 US soldiers and other overseas voters by a Saturday deadline." Then she had election director Dawn Roberts tell local election supervisors 'Hurricane Ivan' made her do it! Say What? Share your comments with Ms. Hood - secretary@mail.dos.state.fl.us, and Gov. Jebthro - fl_govenor@myflorida.com

St. Pete Times: "The latest effort to disqualify Ralph Nader as a presidential candidate in Florida has led to renewed scrutiny of papers filed by other candidates - including Bush. State law sets a Sept. 1 deadline for the governor to certify a list of presidential electors for each party's candidates. But Sept. 1 was also the day Bush and Cheney were being nominated at their party' convention in NYC. Consequently, some of their paperwork did not arrive at state elections headquarters until Sept. 2, a day after Gov. Jeb Bush certified the candidates for president. Paperwork problem? No, says Secretary of State Glenda Hood's office." Anyone remember an issue of DEADLINES being a factor in Cruella Harris' mishandling of the Stolen Election in 2000? Like, maybe, DISALLOWING a recount because of missing an arbitrary deadline, one not mandated by the "RULE of LAW."

FLORIDA, the Election Play
05-Sep-04
Stolen Election 2000

Dale Reynolds writes, "This play dramatizes the events that lead up to the US Supreme Court's 5 to 4 decision to make George W. Bush President of the United States. FLORIDA is based on investigative reporting and eyewitness accounts, including testimony from actual participants in these events. Some of FLORIDA's characters have been created for dramatic purposes, and some are people you will recognize, such as GREG PALAST, KATHERINE HARRIS, and JEB BUSH. Some, such as LEO (CASINO) HARRIS, are portrayed as the real life heroes they were. FLORIDA is a drama based on what happened there, before, during, and after November 7, 2000. FLORIDA, The Election Play, was first read in London (please see Readings on the BACKGROUND page) and these readings have resulted in a devoted cast of actors to carry out projects for FLORIDA. We will be recording, probably in September, 2004, a radio and CD version of the play. "

BushFeld Plan to Steal Soldiers' Votes
03-Sep-04
Stolen Election 2004

NY Times opines, "Members of the military will be allowed to vote this year by faxing or e-mailing their ballots - after waiving their right to a secret ballot. Beyond this fundamentally undemocratic requirement, the Electronic Transmission Service, as it's known, has far too many problems to make it reliable, starting with the political partisanship of the contractor running it. The Defense Department is making matters worse by withholding basic information about the service, and should suspend it immediately." The Busheviks are STEALING the election - right under America's nose!

Theresa LePore Loses Her Job - But Not Until January
01-Sep-04
Stolen Election 2000

"The county election supervisor whose confusing ballot design contributed to the turmoil of the 2000 presidential election became the butt of late-night talk show jokes and the target of death threats. Now, she's lost her job. Theresa LePore, the inventor of the butterfly ballot that was scrutinized during the presidential recount, lost her re-election bid to remain Palm Beach County elections supervisor. With all 692 precincts reporting, challenger Arthur Anderson had 91,134 votes, or 52%, while LePore had 85,601 votes, or 48%... Speaking of a 'continuous erosion' in confidence in the voting process, Anderson said he ran against LePore to protect 'the right to have our votes count,' and had urged adding printers to voting machines to ensure a paper trail in case of a recount. LePore has said she thinks printers are unnecessary... Despite the loss, LePore will remain in office until Jan. 3 and will oversee the November election in the county."

David Corn writes, "The Election Center's description of its activities does not note that it also allows the manufacturers of voting equipment to hobnob with state and local elections officials. (At one panel, according to an audience member, Representative Bob Ney, a Republican, was applauded when he dismissed demands for auditable paper trails for electronic voting, noting that a rigged electronic machine could also be fixed to produce a misleading paper trail. ) But in the hallways of the Grand Hyatt Hotel, voting machine manufacturers--including the companies that have drawn the most criticism--have been plying their wares. And to impress the local officials at the conference, three leading manufacturers of voting machines have been paying to make sure the attendees--the government employees who decide what voting machines are purchased--have a swell time."

As the US and North Korea traded insults, "North Korean nervousness is expected to reach an even higher pitch in late OCTOBER, when warships from the United States, Japan and other allied nations are to conduct joint exercises in the Sea of Japan... 'They really believe that Bush and Koizumi are in a plot for a pre-emptive attack on North Korea,' Mr. Quinones recalled of conversations in Pyongyang about Japan's prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi." Will Bush's October Surprise be an "incident" growing out of the naval exercises?

Part of Bush's plan to steal the Venezuelan recall election was a US-funded "exit poll" by US pollster Penn, Schoen & Berland. Despite a ban on publicizing election polls while voters were voting, PS&B issued a press release four hours before polls closed claiming 59% voted to oust Chavez. In fact, 59% voted to KEEP Chavez. If the election was closer, the CIA would have used this "poll" to get Chavez opponents to riot in the streets claiming fraud. We can expect BushRove to do the same kind of poll manipulation in the US on November 2.

Bob Herbert writes, "State police officers have gone into the homes of elderly black voters in Orlando and interrogated them as part of an odd 'investigation' that has frightened many voters, intimidated elderly volunteers and thrown a chill over efforts to get out the black vote in November. The officers, from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which reports to Gov. Jeb Bush, say they are investigating allegations of voter fraud that came up during the Orlando mayoral election in March. Officials refused to discuss details of the investigation, other than to say that absentee ballots are involved. They said they had no idea when the investigation might end, and acknowledged that it may continue right through the presidential election... A heavy-handed state police investigation that throws a blanket of fear over thousands of black voters can only help Bush. The long and ugly tradition of suppressing the black vote is alive and thriving in the Sunshine State."

Tim Russo writes, "Reality check, folks. The State Dept. jumped at this because it isn't a threat. Anyone who has participated in any OSCE election observation mission (I've been on three) knows that the verdict of the mission will be written by OSCE member state ambassadors, who have political agendas to grind. Guess who is the most important member state of the OSCE - the US. Guess who appoints the ambassador to the OSCE - GW Bush. In January, I wrote a piece for the London Sunday Times on the impending OSCE election observation mission in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, warning of a whitewash (which happened.) It's a good primer on the OSCE's internal processes. "

Greg Palast writes, "A little birdie faxed to me what appeared to be confidential pages from a contract between John Ashcroft's Justice Department and a company called ChoicePoint, Inc., of Atlanta. The deal is part of the War on Terror. Justice offered up to $67 million, of our taxpayer money, to ChoicePoint in a no-bid deal for computer profiles with private information on every citizen of half a dozen nations... While the September 11th highjackers came from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon and the Arab Emirates, ChoicePoint's menu offered records on Venezuelans, Brazilians, Nicaraguans, Mexicans and Argentines. How odd... Coincidentally, each is in the throes of major electoral contests in which the leading candidates -- presidents Lula Ignacio da Silva of Brazil, Nestor Kirschner of Argentina, Mexico City mayor Andres Lopez Obrador and Venezuela's Chavez -- have the nerve to challenge the globalization demands of George W. Bush." Watch for a Stolen Election in Venezuela on Sunday!

Provisional Ballots will be the Hanging Chads of 2004
10-Aug-04
Stolen Election 2004

AP reports, "Tens of thousands of Americans will vote in November using a special kind of ballot that must be counted by hand, potentially leaving the outcome of the presidential election in doubt as elections officials argue over each vote. Sound familiar? Although it might stir memories of hanging and pregnant chads from the 2000 election, the 'provisional ballot' is a new national voting requirement meant to ensure no voter is turned away. For the first time, provisional ballots will be available at precincts nationwide for those who can't find their names listed at the polls. Yet, just three months before what looks to be another extremely close presidential election, states don't agree about how to count these ballots. Some localities are worried they won't have time to tally them, and voting rights advocates fear many won't be counted at all."

October Surprise Could (Surprise!) Bite Bush in the Butt
09-Aug-04
Stolen Election 2004

Tom Engelhardt writes, "Whatever surprises this administration is planning for the coming months, it's hard to imagine an administration that's been as regularly caught off-guard by events as this one. Reality has been biting back with surprising ferocity. Among their manipulations that haven't worked out quite as planned you would have to include the front-loading of the economy (those tax rebates now long gone) and the passing of Iraqi 'sovereignty' in a two-day early June 'surprise' that managed to shove Iraq onto the inside pages of the papers and deep into the nightly news for a month -- but in both cases (see below), reality shoved back in surprising ways. Not only is there no guarantee that an administration electoral surprise will work as planned, but it's a reasonable guess that, of the surprises that lie ahead, the majority aren't likely to fall Bush's way. These could be a long three months for Karl Rove & Co."

How They Could Steal the Election This Time
08-Aug-04
Stolen Election 2004

Ronnie Dugger writes, "On November 2 millions of Americans will cast their votes for President in computerized voting systems that can be rigged by corporate or local-election insiders. Some 98 million citizens, five out of every six of the roughly 115 million who will go to the polls, will consign their votes into computers that unidentified computer programmers, working in the main for four private corporations and the officials of 10,500 election jurisdictions, could program to invisibly falsify the outcomes. The result could be the failure of an American presidential election and its collapse into suspicions, accusations and a civic fury that will make Florida 2000 seem like a family spat in the kitchen. "

Even UK Writers Have Bought into the Bush- Disseminated Myth about MoveOn.org's connection to Kerry!
06-Aug-04
Campaign 2004

Guardian columnist Philip James has slurped up and recycyled the tired old rumor about MoveOn.org that Bush & Co. have so systemmatically fed to the public: that somehow MoveOn is connected directly to the Kerry campaign, and that their relentless criticism of Bush is motivated by Kerry. MoveOn started up its assault on the Bush illegal presidency LONG before Kerry ever threw his hat into the ring. They were outraged by the stolen election and, subsequently, by Bush's attacks on all America once held dear. The group's desire to expose Bush would have helped ANYONE who ran against Bush. The only reason MoveOn is suddenly being lumped in as "soft money" is because it is an election year. Does this mean you're not allowed to criticize a Pres. during an election year? Is grassroots dissent now allowed only three years out of every four?

USA Today, which had showed signs of becoming a real newspaper there for a while - even running challenging stories on key issues for a time - has been brought to heel by the White House. This week, not only did USA Today disseminate the latest bogus poll results (Gallup/CNN) they used the outcry these results caused (which conflict with all other less Bushie polls and state by state results) as a pretext for running a long story that, under the guise of a "news article" is a FREE Bush campaign spot that lists all the reasons people should vote for Bush, while citing Kerry's "failings." But we guess USA Today wasn't allowed by its White House handlers to cover the rally this week (for ex.) in Grand Rapids MI, where 20,000 people showed up to cheer Kerry on, while just 4,000 showed up down the street to see Bush! Once again, we wonder: Is the creation of polls showing Bush ahead a ploy to make a stolen election seem more credible?

"Calling attention to escalating concerns about the fairness of election practices in the United States, delegates in Las Vegas at the annual National NOW Conference last week passed a resolution urging United Nations oversight of the November elections. The resolution, which passed unanimously on July 18, supports the members of Congress who sent a letter to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan on July 1 asking for U.N. oversight of the presidential elections... NOW members vividly recall Dec. 2000, when the Supreme Court issued a decision in Bush v. Gore-one of the most controversial pieces of jurisprudence in history-preventing a complete re-counting of the votes in disputed Florida precincts and counties." You go, NOW! (And special thanks for linking to the petition at Democrats.com/monitors )

Jim DeFede writes, " 'I can tell you with the utmost certainty that it was unintentional and unforeseen,' [Glenda Hood's] spokeswoman told me three weeks ago. At the time I questioned how Hood or de Lara could be so certain no one in their office knew the databases had trouble identifying Hispanics. De Lara was indignant that I would suggest anyone in the secretary of state's office would have known about the problem. Oops. Turns out that was a big mistake, too. On Tuesday, the company that started assembling the felon purge list in the late '90s said election officials knew [in 1998! that] Hispanics were unlikely to show up on any list that used race as a criteria... Firing Hood and replacing her with a nonpartisan individual or group to oversee the state's election would be only the first step to restoring voter confidence. After that, we need a grand jury to start issuing subpoenas to find out exactly what people knew, and when they knew it. Only then will we get to the truth."

The Revolution Will Be Webcast!
22-Jul-04
Stolen Election 2004

CLG's strategy in case of stolen elections: Part 2, The Revolution Will Be Webcast! by Michael Rectenwald. "What are the TRIGGERS, what 'election' events will trigger the Grand Refusal? The following list is by no means exhaustive. The Bush regime may very well alter their approach to stealing the election this time. But, this is a list that will guide us... The Real Revolution was against the people and the Constitution and took place in 2000 and continues to this day."

Mark Morford writes, "Do you feel it? Can you smell it in the air? The sensation that the Republican party, though various tentacles, will stop at absolutely nothing to maintain power in the White House? It's true. It's the feeling that, during the next few months, it's all about to get very shrill, and very surreal, indeed... Let this be a warning. Get ready. Expect the unexpected. Watch the skies, scrutinize the headlines, dust off your stash of duct tape. Because Karl Rove and the cutthroat BushCo war hawks and corporate cronies who run the show aren't about to go down without a screaming, sickening, fiery fight. And if BushCo has proven anything in the past four violent, budget-gutting, honor-molesting, nearly unbearable years, it's that there ain't no international law that can't be broken, no fear synapse that can't be hammered to death, no fraudulent power tactic that can't be abused. Anything is possible. You have been warned. God bless America."

Democratic leaders write, "We are writing to request that the General Accounting Office (GAO) complete a study of critical issues that concern the integrity of the voting process in the United States. The ability of Americans to register to vote, cast a ballot and have each vote counted in the upcoming Federal election are issues central to the health of our democracy. The importance of an immediate review by the respected professionals at GAO cannot be overstated." The letter focuses on 4 issues: Provisional Voting, Voter Registration, Personal Identification, and Purging of Voters. Unfortunately paper trails are not included. Dems want answers by 9-15-04 to prevent chaos on Election Day.

Ohio Voter Purge
20-Jul-04
Stolen Election 2004

Ohio Voter Purge "I noticed that one of the most critical counties in President [sic] Bush's re-[s]election efforts in Ohio, Hamilton County (Cincinnati), had a dramatic decrease in the voter rolls. It went from over 585,000 in 2000 to 519,048 today." --by Steven Monroe, for Citizens For Legitimate Government

How Bush Can Steal the Election without Canceling It
20-Jul-04
Stolen Election 2004

Prof. Peter Shane writes, "Suppose that some of the electors - the people who under our constitutional system conduct the real presidential election some weeks after voters go to the polls - aren't actually selected by the voters. Impossible? Not if you give a close reading to the Supreme Court's decision in the case of Bush v. Gore, which finally settled the presidential election of 2000, if not to everyone's satisfaction. Under that decision, there is no guarantee that the electors who are decisive in choosing the next president will themselves be selected by the people of the United States. That's because the justices ruled in that case that state legislatures have unlimited authority to determine whether citizens in their respective states shall be allowed to vote for president at all... Republican state governments in FL, NH and OH, and Democrats in NM, could spare us all some electoral suspense and simply decide their respective states' electoral votes on their own."

"Lawyers for the [Kerry] campaign are gathering intelligence and preparing litigation over the ballot machines being used and the rules concerning how voters will be registered or their votes disqualified. In some cases, the lawyers are compiling dossiers on the people involved and their track records on enforcing voting rights. The disputed 2000 presidential election remains a fresh wound for Democrats, and Mr. Kerry has been referring to it on the stump while assuring his audiences that he will not let this year's election be a repeat of the 2000 vote. 'A million African-Americans disenfranchised in the last election,' he said at the N.A.A.C.P. convention in Philadelphia on Thursday. 'Well, we're not just going to sit there and wait for it to happen. On Election Day in your cities, my campaign will provide teams of election observers and lawyers to monitor elections, and we will enforce the law.'"

"Think the passions from the 2000 presidential election have cooled? Certainly not in the House, which voted Thursday to strike a Florida representative's words from the record after she said Republicans 'stole' that closely fought contest. The verbal battle broke out after Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Ind., proposed a measure barring any federal official from requesting that the UN formally observe the U.S. elections on Nov. 2. His proposal was approved 243-161... Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla., and several other House Democrats have made that suggestion. They argue that some black voters were disenfranchised in 2000 and problems could occur again... 'I come from Florida, where you and others participated in what I call the United States coup d'etat. We need to make sure it doesn't happen again,' Brown said. 'Over and over again after the election when you stole the election, you came back here and said, 'Get over it.' No, we're not going to get over it. And we want verification from the world.'"

"Members of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights called Thursday for a federal investigation to determine whether Florida officials violated the Voting Rights Act when they put together an error-plagued list designed to purge felons from the state's voting rolls. The state Division of Elections scrapped the list Saturday because it is riddled with mistakes, including the omission of nearly all Hispanic felons in the state. Civil-rights commissioners also expressed concern that scrapping the list could lead to the unequal treatment of voters as election supervisors in all of Florida's 67 counties scramble to remove the names of those who are ineligible to cast ballots... 'This is not just about sloppy databases; it's not just about bureaucracies strapped for resources,' commission member Christopher Edley said. 'It's about the possible deprivation of a civil right, possibly criminal.'"

Reuters: "The US will not cancel or suspend the presidential election this Nov. in the event of a terror attack or other catastrophic event... Individual states may suspend or reschedule elections if disaster strikes, but that would not change voting in other states... I can't conceive of any circumstances under which a presidential election could be postponed or canceled, Soaries said."

"Dario Cruz has lived in the US for 16 years, but just became a citizen last week as he and about 200 other immigrants were naturalized. One of the things he had always wanted to was register to vote, but when he was offered the chance to do that right outside the ceremony, he knew something wasn't right -- the place on the form where you're asked to choose Democrat, Republican or independent was already filled out. 'It's like one side,' Cruz said. 'You don't get to choose.' According to Cruz and his family, every form was checked off Republican. It was something his wife, Linda Cross, first noticed. She said she asked what was going on, and was told the woman registering voters said they were with a Republican organization. 'I am Republican,' she told Channel 4. 'I was very angry with that if they want to register whatever party, you shouldn't try to dictate to people what party they are going to register; who they are going to vote for, because then you don't have any freedom.'"

The Ballot, The Bullet, and the Grand Refusal
13-Jul-04
Stolen Election 2004

CLG's strategy in case of postponed elections: The Ballot, The Bullet, and the Grand Refusal --by Michael Rectenwald, CLG Founder and Chair "...[A] postponed election, or the playing the fear factor for low voter turnout, are acts of terrorism in themselves. We are already being attacked. This warning is yet another in a series of attacks on our rights, on our democratic system, on our freedom, and on our self-determination."

"To George W. Bush: We call on you to request expert election monitors to avoid an unprecedented electoral - and Constitutional - crisis over the Presidential election of November 2, 2004. Such a request was made by 13 Members of Congress on July 1, 2004. We saw a preview of this crisis in 2000 in Florida. We believe the 2004 crisis will be worse... The American people share our concerns. A poll in June 2004 found 44% of all voters - and 62% of Democrats - fear a Florida-style debacle in November. We believe observers who are experts in administering honest, transparent, and fair elections are needed for the 'battleground' states (Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin) that will decide the Presidency. We call on you to request such experts from the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and the Carter Center." Sign the petition!

"A Democratic congressman who receives classified briefings on the threat of terrorist attacks said yesterday that top U.S. government officials' repeated statements that international terrorists want to disrupt the American electoral process this year 'appear to have no basis.' Rep. Jim Turner (TX), ranking Democrat on the House Select Committee on Homeland Security, said that after several recent briefings by U.S. intelligence officials about perceived terrorist threats this summer and fall, 'I don't have any information that al Qaeda' plans to attack the election process. 'Nobody knows anything about timing' or the exact nature of any possible attack, although U.S. officials say al Qaeda wants to mount an attack this year... Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) [said]: 'This administration has a long track record of using deceptive tactics for political gain. One cannot help but question whether their aim was to deflect attention from the Kerry-Edwards ticket during their inaugural week.'"

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission is holding a public meeting at 1:00pm Tuesday (7/13/04) at 1225 New York Ave, N.W., Suite 1100 in Washington, D.C. Go to the meeting and tell the Bush administration to preserve American democracy, require paper trails for touchscreen machines, and back off its plan to hijack the election for its own political gain. If you're not in Washington, e-mail them at this address: HAVAinfo@eac.gov

Newsweek reports, "[Tom] Ridge's [Homeland Security] department last week asked the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel to analyze what legal steps would be needed to permit the postponement of the election were an attack to take place." This is an outrage on many counts! First, Tom Ridge has repeatedly LIED about terror alerts to grab the headlines away from Democrats. Second, the Office of Legal Counsel is the office that justified TORTURE. Third, even if there is a terrorist attack, any postponement decision should be made by LOCAL officials - just as was done on 9/11, an election day in NYC.

Miami Herald columnist Jim DeFede writes, "'I can tell you with the utmost certainty that it was unintentional and unforeseen,' responded [Sec of State Glenda] Hood spokeswoman Nicole de Lara. I don't know how de Lara can be so certain. I don't know how she can so casually disregard the possibility there's been an orchestrated attempt to defraud the public and that no one in the state knew about the flaws. As far as I'm concerned, there is no more trust. There are no more second chances. Glenda Hood must resign. She is either amazingly incompetent or the leader of a frightening conspiracy, but either way she should go. Next, the governor should remove himself from matters affecting elections and an agency such as the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights should step in and assume direct oversight of the state's election system. Florida is simply a joke that just isn't funny any longer. "

NY Times reports, "Of nearly 48,000 Florida residents on the felon list, only 61 are Hispanic. By contrast, more than 22,000 are African-American. About 8 percent of Florida voters describe themselves as Hispanic, and about 11 percent as black. In a presidential-election battleground state that decided the 2000 race by giving George W. Bush a margin of only 537 votes, the effect could be significant: black voters are overwhelmingly Democratic, while Hispanics in Florida tend to vote Republican [because of the right-wing Cuban community]... 'This was absolutely unintentional,' said Nicole de Lara, spokeswoman for the Florida secretary of state, Glenda E. Hood, an appointee of Gov. Jeb Bush, the president's brother... Democrats said yesterday that the latest disclosure should be the last straw. 'The honorable thing to do,'' Scott Maddox, the Democratic state chairman said, 'is throw the list out and not purge people erroneously on the eve of election.' "

Busheviks Plan to Steal MISSOURI
09-Jul-04
Stolen Election 2004

NY Times opines, "This year in Missouri, it's hard to imagine that voters can have great confidence in the objectivity of the secretary of state, Matt Blunt, who is active in the Bush-Cheney campaign and is himself a candidate for governor. He has insisted on staying on the job, and he has ruled on important election matters in ways that help his own campaign... Right now, Mr. Blunt is trying to stop St. Louis from holding early voting this fall. The Missouri legislature voted to join the majority of states that allow voters to cast ballots in advance of Election Day. St. Louis - where many voters were wrongly prevented from voting in 2000 because of the incompetence of election officials - announced plans for early voting, a move that would give eligible voters a better chance of making sure that their ballots were properly cast. Republicans have opposed early voting in the city, which has a large black population and votes overwhelmingly Democratic."

"To Jimmy Carter & The Carter Center: There is a crisis of confidence in America both at home and abroad. Starting with the 2000 presidential election and continuing until today, the concepts of democracy and what it means to be American have taken a beating. From the disenfranchised Florida voters to the suspect reasoning for entering into a pre-emptive war against Iraq, confidence and trust in the United States is at an all-time low. We have lost the respect of our friends around the world. So, as we approach another presidential election, rebuilding the reputation of America as a strong and true democracy is of the utmost importance... We believe the time has come that we must turn to Jimmy Carter & the Carter Center to fix things at home. There is no one we trust more to restore faith in the democracy this country was founded upon." Sign the petition!

"Still smarting from the 2000 Florida recount, a group of congressional Democrats led by Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas has asked the United Nations to monitor this year's presidential election. 'We are deeply concerned that the right of U.S. citizens to vote in free and fair elections is again in jeopardy,' the lawmakers wrote to Secretary General Kofi Annan. While the request might evoke images of blue-helmeted peacekeepers outside the local library, the request won't be granted. 'Generally, the United Nations does not intervene in electoral affairs unless the request comes from a national government or an electoral authority -- not the legislative branch,' said U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe." What a stupid rule - it lets incumbents steal elections!

Miami Herald: "More than 1,600 Florida felons whose right to vote was legally restored remain on a state list of potentially ineligible voters because they have yet to re-register to vote, a hurdle that critics say is sure to create confusion as the national election looms. State officials have directed county election supervisors to make each of the voters - some of whom have been voting legally for decades - register again before the November presidential election. The move is drawing fire from several fronts - from local election supervisors forced to deal with the bureaucratic morass, from black politicians who believe that the list unfairly targets minorities, and from voting rights activists who say it skirts the spirit of open voting."

"The government needs to establish guidelines for canceling or rescheduling elections if terrorists strike the United States again, says the chairman of a new federal voting commission. DeForest Soaries was appointed to the federal Election Assistance Commission last year by Bush. Soaries said he wrote to Condoleezza Rice and Tom Ridge in April to raise the concerns. 'I am still awaiting their response,' he said. 'Thus far we have not begun any meaningful discussion.' Spokesmen for Rice and Ridge did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Soaries noted that Sept. 11, 2001, fell on Election Day in New York City -- and he said officials there had no rules to follow in making the decision to cancel the election and hold it later. Events in Spain, where a terrorist attack shortly before the March election possibly influenced its outcome, show the need for a process to deal with terrorists threatening or interrupting the Nov. 2 presidential election in America, he said."

We're just 132 days from Stolen Election 2004. This week, Jeb Bush will get $47 million from the Feds under HAVA to improve election technology. But Jeb has decided not to spend the money until AFTER the 2004 election - despite the numerous documented problems with Florida's new touchscreen machines. Impeach Jeb Now!

"44% are worried that another Florida-style mess could mar Election 2004. That includes 18% who are very worried about such a possibility. There are stark partisan differences on this question. A Rasmussen Reports survey found that 62% of Democrats are worried about a repeat debacle, including 31% who are very worried about such an outcome. Among Republicans, just 26% are worried about the possibility, including just 6% who are very worried. Those not affiliated with either major party fall in between. Among unaffiliated voters, 42% are worried about another post-Election mess. Just 15% of this group are very worried."

In Florida, "County elections supervisors peppered state officials on Wednesday with questions about purging felons from their voter rolls, suggesting at a meeting here that numerous attempts to clarify Florida's policy had not ended confusion on the issue... Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, told the supervisors it was illegal to deny anyone the right to vote based on an out-of-state conviction. In a brief presentation, Mr. Simon also told the 67 supervisors that they should focus on restoring the voting rights of people who were incorrectly purged from the rolls in 2000. But some supervisors said they were overwhelmed with investigating a new list of possible felons, as the state requires, and determining which should be disenfranchised." Remember how the Supreme Court ruled in Bush v. Gore that variations between counties in election practices (such as how to count hanging chads) were intolerable? Nah, don't remember.

Tampa Tribune writes, "Today, as the 2004 election nears: * More than 43,000 Floridians are on the waiting list to have their rights restored, some of whom first learned in 2000, after voting for years, that they weren't legally entitled to vote. The restoration process can take years, and the list is growing, not shrinking. * Hundreds of people wrongly removed from voter rolls in 2000, who never committed felonies or whose rights had been restored, may not yet have been put back on the rolls. * A lawsuit charges that Florida's felon disenfranchisement is unconstitutional and affects up to 600,000 people. Despite all this, state officials have just sent elections supervisors in Florida's 67 counties another list of 47,000 names of individuals who may have committed felonies in the past, telling the supervisors to purge their rolls again."

On 5/24/04, Florida "denied a CNN request for a copy of the list of up to 48,000 people [who] could be ineligible to vote because they are felons or have multiple registrations -- or have died since the last election... The state said that only government officials, candidates for office, and political parties can be provided copies of such records under state law. CNN as well as members of the general public were invited to view the documents in the Florida Division of Elections headquarters in Tallahassee, on the condition that there be no photocopying or note-taking. 'Unless people look at the list and see their names and know that it's wrong, then they could end up in a situation where they don't have the right to vote,' said Tampa attorney Gregg D. Thomas of the law firm Holland & Knight, who is representing CNN in the matter. 'It is incredible that information this important to a constitutional right, the right to vote, is not freely and openly disseminated.'"

"In the wake of the Florida Secretary of State's order to evaluate as many as 40,000 'potential felon matches' to determine if they should be removed from the voting rolls, People For the American Way Foundation (PFAWF) announced plans to contact county election officials to head off the massive voter disenfranchisement caused by a similar voter purge during the 2000 election fiasco. 'Here we go again. Why the rush to take more people off of the voting rolls when people who should not have been removed in 1999 and 2000 haven't yet been reinstated?' asked Ralph G. Neas, President of PFAWF. 'We want to make every effort to independently reach out to these voters, and do all we can to make sure that if they have the right to vote, they can vote in 2004.'... Neas said the foundation is writing to each of the 67 county election officials to offer help in identifying people who may have been placed on the purge list erroneously to correct the situation before the November 2, 2004 election."

KCRA News: "California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley ordered the plug pulled on all touch-screen voting machines in the state because of concerns over security... The decision goes beyond the recommendations that an advisory panel made earlier this week. It means four California counties that use a specific model of touch-screen machine will definitely have to find another voting system, and 10 other counties that use similar systems will have to do the same, unless the makers of the machines take steps to guarantee every vote gets counted. 'I came about this close to banning outright and decertifying outright with no possibility of reprieve in those 10 counties, as well,' Shelley said... 'While we are disappointed that the Secretary of State did not go all the way on this recommendation, he did make a historic step today in the decision he announced,' said California Voter Foundation spokeswoman Kim Alexander."

Nancy Kuhn writes: "I've been most anxious to view the DVD 'Unprecedented-the 2000 Presidential election,' because I spent 15 years volunteering on numerous election campaigns when I lived in Florida. Because of my own personal experience I know the disputed territory and the election laws that were deliberately broken by Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris in 2000 extremely well. I've finally seen 'Unprecedented' and I've found 2 claims made in this documentary that are totally false."

The UK Independent: "The United States may be on the way to another Florida-style presidential election fiasco this year because legislation passed to fix the system has either failed to address the problems or has broken down because of missed deadlines and unmet funding targets. Such is the conclusion of a damning new report by the US Commission on Civil Rights, a bipartisan government body which previously looked into the Florida mess... 'Many of the problems that the commission previously cautioned should be corrected yet prevail ... It said that out of 22 key deadlines that have come and gone since the [HAVA] act's passage, only five have been met. Most seriously, an oversight committee designed to advise states on streamlining their voting procedures and implementing the act's provisions was not appointed until last December, 11 months behind schedule. Most states are unlikely to make reforms before the presidential election on 2 November."

Democratic Representatives Henry Waxman and Edward Markey write to Bush: "Mr. President, we request that you fully explain the understanding that you or your Administration reached with the Saudis to boost oil production and disclose any promises that have been made to the Saudis on behalf of the U.S. Additionally, we request that you explain what steps you are taking today to address excessive gasoline prices, and why your Administration has not pressed the Saudis to increase their oil production prior to this year's driving season. Our nation's economy is too important to suffer from high gasoline prices to suit the political timing of any Presidential reelection campaign. We urge that you immediately address Mr. Woodward's claims."

Josh Marshall writes, "The more I read that passage (below) from this morning's gaggle, the more perplexed I become. Why couldn't Scott McClellan give a straight denial to any of the questions about whether Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar had pledged to President Bush that his country would lower gas prices in time for the November election?... I think such an arrangement or understanding is quite possible. Yet such agreements aren't written out on paper. And they should be easily deniable even if they are true -- especially with a White House that, from my experience, seldom gets hung up on such minor quibbles. So, again, why the evasion?" Hey Josh - McClellan's "answers" are classic Nixonian "non-denial denials" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-denial_denial) - in other words, there IS a deal, so that's why McClellan cannot issue a straightforward denial. Impeach Bush Now!

On Sunday, "Woodward told 60 Minutes that Bandar has promised the president that Saudi Arabia will lower oil prices in the months before the election - to ensure the U.S. economy is strong on election day. Woodward says that Bandar understood that economic conditions were key before a presidential election: 'They're [oil prices] high. And they could go down very quickly. That's the Saudi pledge. Certainly over the summer, or as we get closer to the election, they could increase production several million barrels a day and the price would drop significantly.'' On Monday, Woodward told CNN's Larry King Live, "I don't say there's a secret deal or any collaboration on this. What I say in the book is that the Saudis ... hoped to keep oil prices low during the period before the election, because of its impact on the economy. That's what I say." Bandar told CNN, "So yes, it's in our interests and in America's interests to keep the prices down. But that was not a deal." Who do you believe?

60 Minutes reports, "Prince Bandar enjoys easy access to the Oval Office. His family and the Bush family are close. And Woodward told 60 Minutes that Bandar has promised the president that Saudi Arabia will lower oil prices in the months before the election -- to ensure the U.S. economy is strong on election day. Woodward says that Bandar understood that economic conditions were key before a presidential election: 'They're [oil prices] high. And they could go down very quickly. That's the Saudi pledge. Certainly over the summer, or as we get closer to the election, they could increase production several million barrels a day and the price would drop significantly.'" Remember how viciously the GOP and the media (including Tim Russert on 4/18/04) bashed Kerry for saying "foreign leaders" supported him? Bush actually CONSPIRED with Saudi Arabia to manipulate the election!!! This is a huge illegal foreign campaign contribution - and one MORE impeachable offense!

Carl Hiaasen writes, "Long live Manuel Yip! The legacy of Miami's most famous dead voter is being revived -- and just in time for the presidential election. Determined to keep Florida in the national spotlight, [Republican] legislators are poised to pass a law that will make it infinitely easier to corrupt the voting process again. The proposed measure would do away with the meager requirement that absentee voters have their ballots signed by a witness. Finding a witness doesn't seem like such a hardship -- a relative can do it, and the signature doesn't even have to be notarized. Yet apparently many Floridians are so lonely and cloistered that they can't dredge up a single soul to watch them seal their ballots. Or so election officials and legislators would have us believe. They say the witness requirement is burdensome and unnecessary. To which Manuel Yip might say: Here, here! "

Vote Theft in 2004: Deja Vu All Over Again
16-Apr-04
Stolen Election 2004

Margaret Kimberley writes: "Polling place dramas will not be the only impediment to a fair election. Computerized voting machines have already been implicated in unexpected and suspicious election results in races across the United States. In 2002 polls showed Georgia's Democratic Senator Max Cleland defeating his Republican challenger, Saxby Chambliss by 49% to 44%. Not only did Cleland lose, but by a margin of 53% to 46%. The new computerized voter machines that also declared a Republican victory in the Governor's race produced no paper verification of results. The losses to Democrats in Georgia were a surprise, but the system now in place does not allow for a means of determining if fraud occurred."

Bev Harris of Black Box Voting writes, "I hear this every day: 'What can I do to help?' Here's what you can do: Volunteer for the 2004 elections Clean Voting Crew and make your nomination for a trouble spot county that belongs on the 'Top 10 Clean-Up' list, warranting special attention. We need crew members all over America. Two things to do right now: 1. E-mail Bevharrismail@aol.com with 'Volunteering!' in the subject line to join the Clean Voting Crew. We need more than 2,000 Crew members all lined up, practiced, and ready to go for fall, and this means getting started NOW. 1,000 Crew members will pop up in local elections all over the place. We'd like you to be one of them. 1,000 more will be recruited in designated 'Clean-Up' counties. Join the Crew!... If you can put together a little Clean Voting pod, that's even better. Recruit a few friends and family members and have some real fun ensuring the survival of democracy. "

"Evoking the razor-thin 2000 election that the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately settled, John Kerry said he is building a legal team to prevent any voting irregularities this year in the state that put George W. Bush in the White House. Kerry made his remarks to a crowd in Broward County, a central battleground in the 2000 recount, responding to a woman who asked what would keep the Republicans from 'stealing the election again.' Kerry promised a strategy that could include 'pre-challenges' and injunctions 'where necessary' to avoid a repeat of 2000 in November. 'Not only do we want a record level of turnout,' Kerry said to applause from hundreds gathered at a community center, 'we want to make sure that every vote is counted'... Kerry also sought to swat down a Saturday jab from the president, who suggested that Kerry wanted to raise taxes. 'It's another, what should we call it, misleading statement?' Kerry said, drawing cheers of 'lies' from the crowd."

"If Ohio's Republican Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell has his way, Diebold will receive a contract to supply touch screen electronic voting machines for much of the state. None of these Diebold machines will provide a paper receipt of the vote. Diebold,.. does its primary business in ATM and ticket-vending machines... virtually every other machine the company makes provides a paper trail to verify the machine's calculations. Oddly, only the voting machines lack this essential function, and ...wherever Diebold goes, irregularities and historic Republican upsets follow. Alastair Thompson, writing for scoop.co of New Zealand, explored whether or not the 2002 U.S. mid-term elections were 'fixed' by electronic voting machines supplied by Republican-affiliated companies. 'The state where the biggest upset occurred, Georgia, is also the state that ran its election with the most electronic voting machines.' Those machines were supplied by Diebold."

When the NY Times editorialized against the Phony Felon Purge of 2000, Danny Schechter called investigative journalist Greg Palast to read it to him. "'What? ' he shouted at me on the phone.' You must be kidding.' He couldn't believe it because the New York Times refused to carry the story at the time when it might have done some good. It didn't even report on the Civil Rights Commission's findings it references in the editorial, only on Republican OBJECTIONS to those findings. You would think that the 'MASSIVE PURGE' they cite in 2004 might have been news fit to print back in 2000. The Washington Post carried Greg's article on the subject but not until June 2001. The NATION ran it and followups earlier. CBS News wouldn't run it, Greg was told by a staffer, because Harris office denied it. Huh?"

NY Times opines, "One outcome of this year's presidential election is already certain: people will show up to vote and find they have been wrongly taken off the rolls. The lists of eligible voters kept by localities around the country are the gateway to democracy, and they are also a national scandal. In 2000, the American public saw, in Katherine Harris's massive purge of eligible voters in Florida, how easy it is for registered voters to lose their rights by bureaucratic fiat. Missouri's voting-list problems received far less attention, but may have disenfranchised more eligible voters. It's hard to judge where voting lists are being mishandled, since the procedures by which they are kept and corrected are shrouded in secrecy. That's the beginning of the problem. The public has a right to know that the rolls are being properly maintained - and to know it before the election. As became clear in 2000, after the fact is too late."

New York Times Reports Illegal Florida Vote Purge...Three Years after Killing Story
19-Feb-04
Stolen Election 2000

Greg Palast writes in an intro to an article by Danny Schecter at MediaChannel.org: "The New York Times has uncovered Katherine Harris' wipe out of thousands of voters ... only three years after killing the story exposed by the BBC TV and the Guardian. Here, 'News Dissector' Schechter, formerly of ABC's 20/20, asks how the Times could editorialize on a story they never ran in the first place. And note the Times still can't bring itself to say that the color of illegally purged voters is ... Black." It's taken the Media three years to finally report on the Vote Purge -- and four years to cover the Bush AWOL story. Contrary to the RNC spin that AWOL-gate is just "old news" for voters, most Americans never even heard of it until the last few weeks!

Chads Still Hanging Around in 22 States
17-Feb-04
Stolen Election 2004

"Punch cards may be gone in Florida, but chads still thrive elsewhere and are actually gaining favor in some quarters. As many as 32 million voters in 307 counties in portions of 22 states will use punch-card ballots during the November general election, according to a study released last week. Could that contribute to another electoral meltdown? Yes, experts say, possibly at the presidential level, more likely somewhere else along the ballot. 'I know there will be a close race someplace, and it will be this same issue that will be discussed,' said Kimball Brace, president of Election Data Services... 'Because of what took place in your state four years ago, it could become a front-page story again. The reason: It turns out that comprehensive federal legislation in 2002 to reform and improve the electoral system wasn't as comprehensive as many people believe. The new law discouraged the use of punch-card ballots, but it did not decertify or otherwise outlaw them."

"Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is convinced the U.S. will track down the elusive mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks before November. 'Obviously, he'll be caught between now and the election,' Grassley said Monday when asked if he's disappointed that Osama bin Laden hasn't been killed or captured. 'I think they're on his trail now in a way they haven't been all year,' Grassley said. 'It will happen because we will be able to divert more resources [to hunting down bin Laden].' Grassley, who's an overwhelming favorite to win a fifth term in November, declined to say why he's so confident that bin Laden will be brought to justice." Maybe because Bush already has Osama in a spider hole, just waiting for an October Surprise?

We'll keep saying it until Election Day: the NY Times helped steal the White House for Bush in 2000 and then lied about the recount. They printed front-page lies by Judith Miller about Iraqi WMD's to push the US into War, and scrubbed the anti-war protests. So what RIGHT do they have to tell Democrats how to campaign - especially the two Democrats who most strongly denounce the Stolen Election of 2000 and the Iraq War of Lies? "Dennis Kucinich has every right to keep campaigning despite his minuscule vote tallies, but he should not be allowed to take up time in future candidate debates. Neither should the Rev. Al Sharpton." E-mail publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. (publisher@nytimes.com) and the Public-dismissing Editor Daniel Okrent (public@nytimes.com) and tell them to let the VOTERS choose the Democratic nominee - and the next President!

Will Bush play the Bioterror Card?
22-Jan-04
Stolen Election 2004

Lori R. Price writes, "There is no way on God's green earth that Karl Rove will let the Idiot Usurper debate *any* Democratic candidate three nights in a row on national television, and Rove can't 'Wellstone' all of them... Even a staged bin Laden 'capture' may not be enough. Bush needs to turn to something that would grab a little more attention and the desired clampdown, just in time for the 2004 s-election."

"A new $22 million system to allow soldiers and other Americans overseas to vote via the Internet is inherently insecure and should be abandoned, according to members of a panel of computer security experts asked by the government to review the program... The trojans, viruses and other attacks that complicate modern life and allow such crimes as online snooping and identity theft could enable hackers to disrupt or even alter the course of elections, the report concluded. Such attacks 'could have a devastating effect on public confidence in elections,' the report's authors wrote, and so 'the best course to take is not to field the SERVE system at all.' A spokesman for [Rumsfeld] said the critique overstated the importance of the security risks in online voting. 'The Department of Defense stands by the SERVE program,' Glenn Flood said. 'We feel it's right on, at this point, and we're going to use it.'" Here it comes - Stolen Election 2004. Impeach Bush Now!

Three years after cheering on Bush's Theft of the Presidency, the NY Times seems to be having a slight change of heart. "The morning after the 2000 election, Americans woke up to a disturbing realization: our electoral system was too flawed to say with certainty who had won. Three years later, things may actually be worse. If this year's presidential election is at all close, there is every reason to believe that there will be another national trauma over who the rightful winner is, this time compounded by troubling new questions about the reliability of electronic voting machines." All true - but when will the NY Times apologize for helping Bush steal the White House - and for lying about the results of their own Media Consortium recount?

St. Petersburg Times reports, "Less than a year before Floridians vote again for president, the election system remains bedeviled by inconsistencies, red tape and potential obstacles to prospective voters:.. The counties have been told to deal with inconsistencies in the list as best they can. Some are returning to the rolls any voters who the county can't prove are felons. But others are making voters prove they aren't felons in order to vote next year. Despite a legal settlement to make it easier for felons to regain their voting rights, the backlog of former prisoners who have applied to restore their rights has grown to nearly 39,000. That's a six-fold increase since 2001, yet the state earlier this year cut the number of Parole Commission staffers who handle applications. In 2004, could Florida voters again be wrongfully denied their voting rights? 'I don't know that I can answer that,' said Sec. of State Glenda Hood, whom Gov. Jeb Bush appointed to succeed Katherine Harris."

From a Greg Palast article about how Baker's Saudi clients will profit enormously from Baker's work in restructuring Iraqi debt: "Why is our President so concerned with the wishes of Mr. Baker's clientele? What does Bush owe Baker? Let me count the ways, beginning with the 2000 election. Just last week Baker said, 'I fixed the election in Florida for George Bush.' That was the substance of his remarks to an audience of Russian big wigs as reported to me by my somewhat astonished colleagues at BBC television."

In Florida, Democratic candidates "spent much of the day sharing the one emotion that has often bonded the party since Bush beat Gore here in 2000: anger. It started with the recount, intensified with Bush's tax cut and reached a steady peak with the debate over Iraq. Howard Dean was first to tap into this discontent, and many Democrats believe it has fueled and sustained his pace-setting campaign. The candidates and party activists blamed Bush, the Supreme Court and GOP Rep. Kathleen Harris for stealing the election from Gore in 2000. 'Al Gore won the state of Florida in 2000, and we should never forget it,' said Democratic Chairman Terence McAuliffe... To this day, Democrats maintain they rightly won Florida and insist a full statewide recount would have delivered the presidency to Gore. 'We had more votes. We won, and we are never going to let the United States Supreme Court choose the president of the United States again,' said Sen. John Edwards (N.C.)." Amen!

When Katherine Harris was elected to Congress, Jeb Bush appointed Glenda Hood to replace her as Secretary of State. So it comes as no surprise that "Hood said making a paper trail a statewide requirement is not necessary because Florida has multiple safeguards to assure the accuracy and security of touch screens, which are used in Palm Beach County and 14 other counties." Obviously Hood is determined to steal the White House AGAIN for Bush through electronic fraud that will be impossible to detect. We're NOT going to let Glenda HOODWINK Florida and the rest of the Nation! Call 850-245-6500 and demand Voter Verifiable Paper Ballots!

"Jefferson County Republicans intend to place Election Day challengers at 59 voting precincts in predominantly black neighborhoods, a move that NAACP leaders yesterday called blatant intimidation. The GOP election workers, most of whom live outside the targeted precincts in western and central Louisville, Portland and Newburg, will be on hand to challenge voters who they suspect aren't eligible... Those challenged must sign an oath swearing they are valid voters. Anyone who refuses won't be allowed to vote unless an election officer decides the challenge is unwarranted... Democrats called the Republican challengers an attempt to intimidate black voters in what is expected to be a close race for governor between Ernie Fletcher, a Republican, and Democrat Ben Chandler. '(They) have only one purpose: to intimidate and suppress votes in the West End and other minority areas,' Tim Longmeyer, chairman of the Jefferson County Democratic Party, said." Defeat ALL Republicans!

"If you strip away the partisan rancor over the 2000 election, you are left with the undeniable fact that a presidential candidate conceded the election to his opponent based on a second card (card #3) that mysteriously appeared, subtracted 16,022 votes from Al Gore, and in some still undefined way, added 4,000 erroneous votes to George Bush, then, just as mysteriously, disappears. Black Box Voting reveals for the first time that it was the Volusia and Brevard County anomalies that caused TV networks to call the election for Bush. An internal document from CBS, combined with timelines and interviews from Agence France-Presse and internal Diebold memos show that: - A replacement set of votes was uploaded on the Diebold machines (then called Global Election Systems) in Volusia County about one hour after the original votes... - According to CBS, the erroneous 20,000 votes in Volusia was directly responsible for calling the election for Bush." Read Chapter 11 of Black Box Voting!

Two Ashcroft employees, "U.S. Attorney Patrick L. Meehan and FBI Special Agent Jeffrey Lampinski said federal authorities never intended for the bug to be discovered weeks before a close election. 'Certainly nobody wanted to have any negative impact on the election,' Meehan said in the lobby of the Sheraton Society Hill Hotel, where he was attending a national law enforcement conference. 'No one regrets more so than the investigators on this case that this device was uncovered in the midst of an election,' Lampinski added. The officials said charges were not imminent. 'This began substantially well before the election cycle and will... be ongoing long after the election,' Lampinski said. Since the discovery of the listening device by city police on Oct. 7, Street and other Democrats have voiced suspicion that the investigation is politically motivated and is designed to influence the outcome of the election on Nov. 4." Ashcroft was caught red-handed - Impeach Bush Now!

"What really happened in Florida during the 2000 Presidential election? Grassroots filmmakers Jeannine Ross and Bruce Yarock tell you the whole story, not just the one you've seen on t.v. or in any other film about the election. From guerilla protest footage to confrontations with politicians to interviews with investigators, this film tells you the greatest story never told! Where would we be now if we had an investigation of the 2000 Presidential Election? Go back to the scene of the crime to hear the evidence and watch the people's resistance." Check out this important new film featuring Greg Palast, Vince Bugliosi, and Bob Kunst, with Carol Roberts, Terry McAuliffe, Peter Deutsch, Bob Fertik, Lou Posner, Rose Thomas, Janet Reno, Donald Trump and many more (maybe even you!).

Wired reports, "A former worker in Diebold's Georgia warehouse says the company installed patches on its machines before the state's 2002 gubernatorial election that were never certified by independent testing authorities or cleared with GA election officials. If the charges are true, Diebold could be in violation of federal and state election-certification rules. The charges also raise questions about the integrity of the GA election results... [Bev Harris] said the practice of patching systems after they've been certified opens the possibility for anyone to install malicious code on a machine that could alter election results and then delete itself to avoid detection. According to Harris, this scenario is particularly worrisome in light of what happened in the GA gubernatorial race, which ended in a major upset that defied all polls and put a Republican in the governor's seat for the first time in more than 130 years" - as well as the surprise "loss" of Sen. Max Cleland.

Ted Rall writes, "Bush bashers hate Bush for his personal hypocrisy-the draft-dodger who went AWOL during Vietnam yet sent other young men to die in Afghanistan and Iraq , the philandering cocaine addict who dares to call gays immoral-as well as for his attacks on peace and prosperity. But even that doesn't explain why we hate him so much. Bush is guilty of a single irredeemable act so heinous and anti-American that Nixon's corruption and Reagan's intellectual inferiority pale by comparison... Bush stole the presidency. The United States enjoyed two centuries of uninterrupted democracy before George W. Bush came along. The Brits burned the White House, civil war slaughtered millions and depressions brought economic chaos, yet presidential elections always took place on schedule and the winners always took office. Bush ended all that, suing to stop a ballot count that subsequent newspaper recounts proved he had lost." Click on "5" to recommend this story.

Folks, it's Stolen Election 2000 all over again! After TREMENDOUS pressure from Republicans and the right-wing media, a panel of 11 judges on the 9th Circuit overturned a prior ruling by 3 judges ordering the California recall postponed until new voting machines were ready in March 2004. What was the reasoning of the 11 judges? "The State of California and its citizens will suffer material hardship by virtue of the enormous resources already invested in reliance on the election's proceeding on the announced date." That is just utter BUSHIT. As we all know, Florida invested "enormous resources" in launching a state-wide recount on December 10 2000, but that didn't stop the Felonious Five of the Supreme Court from halting that recount because different counties used different vote-counting methods. The bottom line is simple: our Federal courts are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Republican Party, and the rule of law no longer exists. Defeat ALL Republicans!

Christian Science Monitor reports, "The nation's political landscape is being revisited by a specter many thought had been permanently laid to rest in the wake of 9/11: the Florida recount. With the fate of the California recall election now in the hands of the courts, and late-night comedians once again joking about hanging chads, the finale of the 2000 election is suddenly reemerging as a potent force in US politics - one that is casting a shadow over current contests, and could prove a key factor in 2004. The effect is seen most overtly in California, where Democrats are deliberately evoking the Florida recount, linking it to the recall as part of a pattern of Republican coup attempts... 'The Democrats are angry,' says [Prof. Jack Pitney]. 'The recall is a blue-hot issue; the Texas redistricting is a blue-hot issue. And of course, [Howard] Dean is the blue-hot candidate.'" According to the NY Times, 38% of Americans still believe Bush is illegitimate.

Whatever tiny gains were achieved from Florida's clemency lawsuit were completely eclipsed by the wholesale roundup of drug users by Jeb Bush. "Nearly 3,000 people were locked up in June, the largest number of new inmates in any single month in Florida in more than a decade. The bulge in the state prison population, which caught officials by surprise, was largely driven by a big jump in the number of people being imprisoned for drug crimes, according to state Department of Corrections figures. The immediate problem -- a looming lack of bed space -- may have been resolved last week when Gov. Jeb Bush signed an emergency measure shifting more than $65 million from reserves into a flurry of new prison construction. But officials are starting to question what is causing such a large and unexpected spike in prison admissions while, as politicians are quick to point out, the crime rate has dropped to record lows." Jeb is DELIBERATELY locking up drug users to DISENFRANCHISE poor voters!

AP reports: "The Florida Elections Commission fined a Palm Beach County Commissioner $2,000 Wednesday for taking excessive contributions during an effort to oust three Florida Supreme Court justices who ruled for Al Gore during the 2000 presidential election recount. Mary McCarty, R-Delray Beach, could have paid up to the $450,000 recommended by the commission's attorney. She chaired the Committee to Take Back Our Judiciary, which took donations that exceed the state's $500 limit during its brief campaign to oust justices Harry Lee Anstead, Leander Shaw and Charles Wells. "This is about who gave and who got," said Eric Lipman, the panel's assistant general counsel. "Someone has to take responsibility. She chose to sign on as chair." McCarty was fined $1,000 apiece for election law violations that her committee accepted excessive contributions, including a $150,000 loan, and for signing an incomplete financial report." Guess all those new prisons aren't for Republicans...

Robin Toner writes, "While Democratic leaders in Washington debate strategy and demographics for the 2004 election - the wisdom of campaigning from the left, right or center - something far more visceral is at work in the first caucus state, and in other Democratic redoubts. There is a powerful disdain for the Bush administration, stoked by the aftermath of the war in Iraq and the continuing lag in the economy. There is also a conviction that Bush is eminently beatable and a hunger to hear their party's leaders and candidates make the case against him - straight up, from the heart rather than the polling data... For the past two and a half years, after all, a fairly consistent 38% of respondents in The NY Times/CBS News Poll have said that Mr. Bush was not legitimately elected president." That's incredible, considering the entire corporate media - especially the NY Times - has lied about Stolen Election 2000. E-mail rotone@nytimes.com and invite her to visit http://democrats.com/2000

AP reports: "A federal grand jury indicted five people Wednesday on charges they bought votes for the November election in Caldwell County. A grand jury in Charlotte handed down the indictments on nine counts of conspiracy to commit or committing vote buying against each person. The indictment charges that Wayne Shatley, Anita Moore, Valerie Moore, Richard C. Hood and Ross Banner offered and paid people in some cases $25 to vote for all of the Republicans on the ballot or just for Republican sheriff's candidate Gary Clark."

Greg Palast writes, "Jeb Bush's operation denied over 50,000 citizens their right to vote. Given that 80% of registered voters actually cast ballots in the presidential election, at least 40,000 votes were lost. By whom? ... We can confidently state that this little twist in the voter purge cost Al Gore a good 30,000 votes... Three decades ago, Governor George Wallace stood in a schoolhouse door and thundered, 'Segregation now! Segregation tomorrow! Segregation forever!' but failed to block entry to African-Americans. Governor Jeb Bush's resistance to court rulings, conducted at whisper level with high-tech assistance, has been far more effective at blocking voters of color from the polling station door. Deliberate or accidental, the error ridden computer purge and illegal clemency obstacle course function, like the poll tax and literacy test of the Jim Crow era, to take the vote away from citizens who are Black, poor and, not coincidentally, almost all Democrats."

Greg Palast writes, "If profit lust is the ultimate problem blocking significant investigative reportage, the more immediate cause of comatose coverage of the election and other issues is what is laughably called America's 'journalistic culture.' If the Rupert Murdochs of the globe are shepherds of the New World Order, they owe their success to breeding a fiock of docile sheep -- snoozy editors and reporters content to munch on, digest, then reprint a diet of press releases and canned stories provided by government and corporate public-relations operations. Take this story of the list of Florida's faux felons that cost Al Gore the presidential election... [Palast offered the story to CBS during the heat of the recount.] The next day I received a call from the producer, who said, 'I'm sorry, but your story didn't hold up.' And how do you think the multibillion-dollar CBS network determined this? Answer: 'We called Jeb Bush's office.' Oh."

Greg Palast writes, "In the months leading up to the November 2000 balloting, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, in coordination with Governor Jeb Bush, ordered local elections supervisors to purge these 57,700 from voter registries. In Harris's computers, they are named as felons who have no right to vote in Florida. Thomas Cooper is on the list... convicted of a felony on January 30, 2007. 2007? You may suspect something's wrong with the list. You'd be right. At least 90.2% of those on this 'scrub' list, targeted to lose their civil rights, are innocent. Notably, over half -about 54%- are Black and Hispanic voters. Overwhelmingly, it is a list of Democrats. Harris declared George W. Bush winner of Florida, and thereby president, by a plurality of 537 votes over Al Gore. Now do the arithmetic. Over 50,000 voters wrongly targeted by the purge, mostly Blacks. My BBC researchers reported that Gore lost at least 22,000 votes as a result of this smart little blackbox operation."

"A new display at the South Florida Science Museum helps explain Palm Beach's infamous role in the presidential election three years ago by letting children and adults try out the now-retired punchcard ballot on an authentic Votomatic III... 'Many people just walk by it and shake their heads and you can see the flood of memories come back,' said Jim Rollings, the museum's executive director. 'But the out-of-towners come up and they really want to look it over to see if the ballot is as confusing as it was made out to be.' Just for those who easily forget, a sign next to the four-legged stand where sample paper ballots can be inserted explains: 'Many voters claimed that they were confused by the instructions, by the design and by the physical motion needed to punch through the voting cards.'" How about getting Madame Tussaud to make a wax statue of Katherine Harris?

Miami Herald reports that Al "Sharpton challenged the NAACP -- and his fellow candidates -- not to forget the 2000 presidential election recount in Florida. 'I was here four years ago when democracy was mugged and the citizens were robbed right in the state of Florida,' he said. Indeed, the recount battle that may have been overshadowed on the political landscape by Sept. 11 and the Iraq war was clearly a fresh issue at the NAACP Convention -- and the candidates were quick to show they understood the racial implications of a divided U.S. Supreme Court putting Bush in office. Graham, who called himself a 'son of the segregated South,' also drew stirring applause when he referred to the 2000 election, telling the audience that he hails from the state where the election was 'decided on stolen votes.'" Urge your favorite candidate to denounce the Stolen Election in EVERY speech!

"Imagine casting a vote for president from a cybercafe in Thailand, an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf or a laptop computer at home. Thousands of people serving in the military and Americans living abroad will have that option next year in the nation's most extensive Internet voting experiment... The Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment [under the Pentagon], which began as a tiny demonstration project in the 2000 general election and involved just 84 voters, could give 100,000 voters the chance to cast absentee ballots online in next year's presidential primaries and general election... 'We're opening up a whole host of opportunities for voter coercion and voter fraud,' said Rebecca Mercuri, a research fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government... Mercuri said even the most secure systems can be cracked, hacked or left vulnerable to Internet viruses, leaving the ballot contents and the identity of the voter open to perusal."

Bev Harris writes: "Now, think of it like this: You want the report to add up ONLY the ACTUAL votes. But, unbeknownst to the election supervisor, votes can be added and subtracted from vote ledger 2, so that it may or may not match vote ledger 1. Her official report comes from vote ledger 2, which has been disengaged from vote ledger 1 [that originally received the incoming votes]... From a programming standpoint, there might be reasons to have a special vote ledger that disengages from the real one. From an accounting standpoint, using multiple sets of books is NOT OKAY. From an accounting standpoint, the ONLY thing the totals report should add up is the original votes in vote ledger 1. Proper bookkeeping NEVER allows an extra ledger that can be used to just erase the original information and add your own. And certainly, it is improper to have the official reports come from the second ledger, the one which may or may not have information erased or added."

Democracy and Liberation
28-Jun-03
Bush Dictatorship

Meria Heller writes: "We hear a lot about democracy and liberation in the news today. We are misinformed or hook-winked to believe both actually exist and are in play, but we don't realize that neither is real. While the U.S. says it is bringing 'democracy' to Iraq, the story on the ground tells an entirely different account. Children with radiation sickness, body parts blown off and children forced to pick up weapons to defend themselves. Protesters being shot at by our troops for exercising what should be their rights under 'democracy.' The people are starving, no jobs, still many without basic necessities, yet most Americans believe we have 'liberated' the Iraqi people."

Not ONE mainstream newspaper, magazine, TV or radio station investigated the 2000 Stolen Election in Florida - or the electronic voting machine problems in 2002 (see blackboxvoting.com). But days before the historic Moveon primary, the media is suddenly terrified of vote rigging. Why now? Because the Moveon primary will help grassroots Democrats unite behind the most progressive candidates, an idea that terrifies the political establishment - both Republicans and Democrats. If you haven't registered in the Moveon primary, go here: And a memo to Dick Gephardt, whose complaints prompted this AP story: if you want the votes of progressive activists, you could start by demanding Bush's impeachment for lying to the world - and YOU - about Iraq's WMD.

Democrats.com is excited to announce our very first bumper stickers! Help us choose the stickers we should print, by telling us which stickers you would like to buy. Our members have suggested a bunch of new ones. Here are the early leaders:
Bush Lied / Thousands Died
Re-defeat Bush
Regime Change Begins at Home
Take Back America
Operation American Freedom
Change the Regime / in Washington!
I Will NEVER Get Over / Stolen Election 2000
Honk If You Hate Bush
Fire Bush / Before He Fires You!
No More Bushit

Democrats.com is excited to announce our very first bumper stickers! Help us choose the stickers we should print, by telling us which stickers you would like to buy. Our nominees are:

Change the Regime / in Washington!
Fire Bush / Before He Fires You!
Honk If You Hate Bush
I Will NEVER Get Over / Stolen Election 2000
No More Bushit
Operation American Freedom
Re-defeat Bush
Regime Change Begins at Home
Take Back America

"In 1963, Dr. King's determined and courageous band faced water hoses and police attack dogs to call attention to the thicket of Jim Crow laws -- including poll taxes and so-called 'literacy' tests -- that stood in the way of black Americans' right to have their ballots cast and counted. Today, there is a new and real threat to minority voters, this time from cyberspace: computerized purges of voter rolls. The menace first appeared in Florida in the November 2000 presidential election. While the media chased butterfly ballots and hanging chads, a much more sinister and devastating attack on voting rights went almost undetected. In the two years before the elections, the Florida secretary of state's office quietly ordered the removal of 94,000 voters from the registries. Supposedly, these were convicted felons who may not vote in Florida. Instead, the overwhelming majority were innocent of any crime, though just over half were black or Hispanic."

AP reports: "Another dispute is brewing over Florida's chaotic 2000 presidential election: Should the 6 million ballots, hanging chads and all, be destroyed or saved because of their historical significance?' Many election supervisors in Florida's 67 counties want to get rid of the ballots because they take up so much space. Miami-Dade's are in taped-up cardboard boxes stacked to the ceiling of a warehouse, while Palm Beach County's 2000 election records sit on three 5-by-5 foot pallets, each of them 6 feet high. 'If someone wants to have all these, they better know what they're getting into,' said Theresa LePore, the elections supervisor responsible for Palm Beach County's infamous 'butterfly' ballot. She once joked a bonfire would be best way to get rid of the materials."

"Steve Norton, a junior at Upper St. Clair High School near Pittsburgh, was looking for help with his honors class in American history. His topic was the Electoral College. And he thought he knew who could give him some sharp insights: ... Jeb Bush (R). So he wrote Bush for help. 'I am going to explain the pros and cons of the Electoral College,' he told Bush in a March 2 letter, 'using examples such as George W. Bush's election and compare the U.S. to other countries. Bush replied April 8, 'To help you with your research paper on the Electoral College, I have forwarded you [sic] letter to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in Washington, D.C. The DNC will have all the information you need on The Electoral College'... The DNC wasn't surprised by the Bush referral. 'We understand why Governor Bush wasn't able to answer the student's question,' DNC Chairman Terence R. McAuliffe said. 'When you've got the Supreme Court, you don't have to understand the Electoral College.'"

Stephanie Saul reports: "The city won't fix its broken voting machines after all, and one elections commissioner alleged it's because Republicans want to keep voters confused. The Board of Elections yesterday reversed a plan that would have repaired devices on the 7,000 machines, which people accidentally left without voting. One Democrat joined with the five Republicans on the board to block the machine repairs. 'The Republicans understand it's in their interest to keep voters confused,' said Manhattan Democratic Commissioner Douglas Kellner, who spearheaded efforts to have the machines fixed. The broken devices are believed to be the cause of an estimated 60,000 lost votes in the 2000 presidential race, according to a Newsday analysis."

Sons of Confederate Veterans Will Never 'Get Over It' - The Civil War, That Is
07-Apr-03
Abraham Lincoln

Remember all the southern Republicans who demanded that Democrats "get over" the Stolen Election of 2000? Gee, why can't they "get over" the Civil War? PentaPost reports, " The unveiling of an Abraham Lincoln statue today in downtown Richmond, a city his armies once conquered, was heralded as part of an effort to heal old wounds. But the ceremony was carried out amid catcalls and protests by promoters of Confederate heritage... About 100 members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and their families gathered at the nearby grave of Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, to protest the Lincoln statue. 'As long as I'm commander in chief, we will never accept it,' vowed Ron Wilson, national commander of the group. 'We are going to fight these people everywhere they raise their head.'" Boy, that sure sounds a lot like the Muslim jihadists Bush is creating in the Iraq War...

While the world is preoccupied with W-ar, Karl Rove is secretly engineering the cancellation of Presidential primaries. As the Moonie UPI reports, "Colorado has already scrapped its presidential preference primary and ... Arizona, Kansas, Maine, Missouri and Utah all have legislation pending that would eliminate their primaries... The legislatures considering dropping the primaries are all Republican-controlled except Maine, but [Tim] Storey doesn't believe that's a major factor. George W. Bush is not expected to have any opposition in 2004" - and Karl Rove is determined to make it IMPOSSIBLE for there to be any! Before the Stolen Election in Florida, we remember the Prohibited Election in New York, when Karl Rove tried to keep the surging John McCain off the ballot. When "Operation Empire" gets ugly and the Homeland Security Code goes to Red, stay tuned for the emergency cancellation of Election 2004...

During his resignation speech, the Labour Party's Robin Cook declared: "What has come to trouble me most over past weeks is the suspicion that if the hanging chads in Florida had gone the other way and Al Gore had been
elected, we would not now be about to commit British troops." We couldn't agree more!

A Democrats.com member writes, "I was just watching Robin Cook in the House of Commons on C-Span. He was making so lucid and painting the true picture of this administration's real agenda, and they cut him off! They went to a still shot of the White House, then came back apologizing for the 'technical problem', but didn't go back to England. They went to Colin Powell to keep up the junta's mind programming." Another member writes, "Cook's speech was cut off with a slide that said 'Fox News', and then they went on to some other program. He had just started criticizing the Bush administration at that point. He said that if things were different in Florida, Al Gore would be president, and they would not be discussing this unnecessary war today." Send complaints to viewer@c-span.org and call during talk shows: Dems (202) 585-3881, Reps (202) 585-3880, Others (202) 585-3882 - and watch this powerful speech, which received an uprecedented standing ovation (video link on right).

How Karl Rove Stole the 2002 Election
03-Mar-03
Stolen Election 2002

James Moore and Wayne Slater have written a hard-hitting book about Karl Rove - called "Bush's Brain." Here's an excerpt from Chapter 16 (available for download): "In the Florida governor's race and the Texas senate campaign, automated calls were being made against Democrats [Bill McBride and Ron Kirk] from purportedly gay rights groups. The callers told voters Kirk and McBride were supporters of gay marriage... 'It's almost eerie, what Rove has done,' one Washington consultant said. 'He dismantled the Democrats so effectively they just stood there dumbstruck. He silenced their opposition with intimidation, picked apart institutions, just basically destroyed dissent, and he wrapped all of this in patriotic hues. I'm telling you, it's scarily phenomenal. The Republicans won the battle by obscuring the domestic issues with Iraq and terrorism, just as Karl Rove had advised almost a year earlier."

BBC reports, "Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has launched a scathing attack on the 'born-again colonialists' of the US and the UK... He also questioned the legitimacy of George Bush's 2000 election victory, saying Mr Bush was in no position to lecture Zimbabwe on democratic elections. The US and the UK have heavily criticised Mr Mugabe, saying his re-election last year was marred by fraud and violence... 'The US, awakened to the implications of being the sole superpower, joined by Britain as a born-again colonialist, and other Western countries have turned themselves into fierce hunting bulldogs raring to go, as they sniff for more blood, Third World blood,' Mr Mugabe said... 'Is it not ironical that Mr Bush who was not really elected should deny my legitimacy, the legitimacy of President Mugabe, established by many observer groups from Africa and the Third World. Who, in these circumstances, should the world impose sanctions on? Robert Mugabe or George Bush?'"

According to GOP influence peddler Grover Norquist, "Bush [got close enough to steal the election] because of the Muslim vote. The what? That's right, the Muslim vote. There are roughly six million Muslim-Americans. Hard data on their voting habits is surprisingly hard to come by, because national polling groups do not yet include 'Muslim' as a full-fledged religious category (Protestant, Catholic, Jew, and 'other'). But according to surveys by national Muslim groups, Bush won more than 70% of Muslims who voted. In Florida, that totaled 55,000 people, who, according to an exit poll by the Tampa Bay Islamic Center, favored Bush over Gore by 20 to 1. According to this exit poll, Bush got 88% of the vote to Gore's 4%, with 8% voting for Nader. The margin of victory for Bush over Gore in the Muslim vote was 46,200, many times greater than his statewide margin of [theft]. The Muslim vote won Florida for Bush." Muslim votes were counted - but not the votes of blacks and elderly Jews.

Before he was arrested as a top terror suspect, Newsweek reported that Sami Amin al-Arian "is one of the country's leading advocates for repeal of secret-evidence laws (his brother-in-law was jailed for more than three years on allegations an INS judge dismissed in December). When Bush decried the use of secret evidence during the campaign, the elder Al-Arian campaigned vigorously for the Republican at mosques and Islamic cultural centers. 'We certainly delivered him many more than 537 votes,' he says, referring to Bush's margin of victory in the election." Not only did Bush steal Florida, he stole it with the help of an accused terrorist! Ever the opportunistic hypocrites, Bush and Ashcroft have since shredded the Constitution to INCREASE evidence secrecy with the likes of Patriot Acts I and II! Impeach Bush Now!

Josh Marshall writes, "A few days after the (NH) phone-jamming story broke, PoliticsNJ.com ran a story suggesting that [GOP Marketplace President Allen] Raymond might also be the unnamed consultant at the center of another phone-banking scandal last year in New Jersey... And there's more. Raymond is... also the Executive Director of a big-time GOP pressure group: the Republican Leadership Council (RLC) [whose] board includes Sens. Bennett, Nighthorse Campbell, Collins, Domenici, Kyl, Murkowski, Snowe and Specter and Reps. Dreier, Greenwood, Foley, Franks, Johnson, Pryce, Quinn, and Upton... The day before the election, the RLC paid GOP Marketplace $28,983.62 for 'phone bank' work. Did that twenty-nine grand buy legitimate phone bank work? Or the sort of services Raymond was providing in NH? And who else did Raymond's outfit work for last fall? ... Back in NH, party chair Kathy Sullivan wants answers. 'I want to find out who paid for it, who authorized it, and who knew about it.'"

'Listen to the Voice of the People'
18-Feb-03
Iraq Protests

Because of censorship by Mayor Bloomberg and C-Span, very few people actually heard the powerful speeches that were given in New York City on February 15. Listen to the speeches of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Harry Belafonte, Angela Davis, and Danny Glover - courtesy of Amy Goodman and Democracy Now. After his speech, Belafonte forcefully denounced Bush's Stolen Election and highlighted the dangerous anti-democratic parallels to Nazi Germany.

BlackBoxVoting.com writes, "No one certified the patches- No one is explaining the files in a folder called 'rob-georgia'... In early February, 2003, programmers for Diebold Election Systems admitted that they had been parking highly sensitive company files on an unprotected web site, a serious security mistake by anyone's reckoning. The very next week officials from the state of Georgia admitted that a program 'patch' was administered to over 22,000 unauditable touch-screen voting machines in Georgia. This took place shortly before the November 2002 election... Unfortunately, no certification lab seems to have examined what was actually on this patch." No one is answering questions of what this patch does, or who authorized it, or for that matter, the 20+ people who installed it in each of the machines. We Demand An Investigation!

GOP Phone Jamming Scandal Widens
13-Feb-03
Stolen Election 2002

The Executive Director of the NH GOP was recently fired for his role in a criminal conspiracy to keep voters from voting by jamming a Democratic get-out-the-vote phonebank. Now the investigation is widening to include Allen Raymond, the head of several Republican groups, his largest donor Robert Levine, and the Republican National Committee - which paid Raymond's group $75,600 for "phone calls." We demand prosecution of these criminals!

In Georgia, 22,000 Voting Machines Got a Program Fix - Right Before the 2002 Election
13-Feb-03
Stolen Election 2002

Bev Harris writes: "In early February, 2003, programmers for Diebold Election Systems admitted that they had been parking highly sensitive company files on an unprotected web site, a serious security mistake by anyone's reckoning. The very next week officials from the state of Georgia admitted that a program 'patch' was administered to over 22,000 unauditable touch-screen voting machines in Georgia. This took place shortly before the November 2002 election...Putting patches on 22,000 voting machines without looking at the underlying code has put the Georgia election results in doubt...No official at Diebold or the Georgia Secretary of State's office has provided any explanation at all about the OTHER program patch files - the ones contained in a folder called 'rob-georgia' on Diebold's unprotected FTP site. Inside 'rob-georgia' were folders with instructions to 'Replace what is in the GEMS folder with these'...GEMS is the Diebold voting program software."

Do you remember the good old days under President Clinton, the last elected President? The economy had its biggest growth ever, the environment was becoming cleaner, many countries were signing peace treaties and reductions of weapons treaties, unemployment was below 4%, abortion declined 8 years in a row, crime decreased 8 years in a row. Since the stolen election, the US has been attacked on our home soil, the ecomony tanked, unemployment is through the roof, we are in a never ending war, countries- including the US are pulling out of treaties for no other reason than they feel like it (if the US can do it, why can't North Korea, Russia, Iraq, Iran or anyone else?) And to all of the pro-lifers- abortion is on the rise again thanks to funding cuts for sex education and condom distribution. Crime is also on the rise and our allies are becoming our enemies and the environment is suffering. The only truth to Bush's campaign was he sure did change the tone in Washington.

Here's another good example of what the Republican Party thinks of democracy. In Manchester, New Hampshire, an Election Day operation allegedly ordered by a Republican telemarketing dealer jammed get-out-the-vote phone banks operated by the city's firefighters union and the state Democratic Party. The attack lasted long enough to hinder efforts to reach people who needed rides to the polls. State Republicans initially denied they had hired the firm, but now they're admitting they did but were unaware of what the firm was doing on their behalf. Phone jamming is a federal offense, and the local police department has asked the Justice Department to take action against the jammers. As a result of the allegations, Chuck McGee, the State Republican Party Executive Director, has resigned. We demand a Special Prosecutor for Stolen Election 2002!

The Republican media claims Bush is more popular than Mother Theresa, but the facts show Bush is practically tied with any old donkey. According to the LA Times, "Just 45% of registered voters said they are now likely to support Bush for reelection, while 40% said they were inclined to back the Democratic nominee. 15% said they don't now lean in either direction... Republicans say they will back Bush by a stunning 91% to 1%. Almost as emphatically, Democrats now say they'll support their party's nominee by 84% to 9%. Independents split along ideological lines... 32% of moderate-to-liberal independents now prefer the Democrat. Because the moderate independents outnumber the conservatives, slightly more independents overall now say they are inclined to support the Democratic choice. If independents remain so closely divided, that would point toward another tight election in 2004, as top Bush political advisor Karl Rove recently predicted." Get ready for Stolen Election II!

Joshua Micah Marshall writes, "Washington is all abuzz over the nomination of Miguel Estrada to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The intensity of interest stems, in part, from the fact that many believe he is on the fast track to a Supreme Court nomination... On Crossfire Estrada's friend Ann Coulter told Paul Begala that, 'the second [Estrada] gets in there, he'll overrule everything you love.' But I'm not sure he's designated her an official spokesperson. In any case, what surprises me is that no one has raised the fact that Estrada was one of the lead lawyers on Bush's legal team arguing the Florida recount cases. According to this article in The American Lawyer, Estrada was one of four other 'lead partners' on the team Ted Olson put together to make now- Bush's arguments about why to shut down the vote-counting in Florida. That's certainly something I'd want to know more about."

Even as pieces of the Columbia were falling from the sky, NASA and Congress were racing to start an investigation. "We're going to find out what led to this, retrace all the events... and leave absolutely no stone unturned," said NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe. Yet nearly 18 months after 9-11, the families of the 3,000 victims are still waiting for answers to dozens of unanswered questions (www.unansweredquestions.org). And John Ashcroft's promise to investigate the Stolen Election of 2000 remains a long-forgotten joke. Impeach Bush Now!

"Mark joins me again for a discussion of world events and 'The Bush Dyslexicon' (his book available at www.Meriaheller.com/books.html). The similarities of our loss of liberties since 9/11 and the Reichstag fire are discussed. Mark says the Republican party is a party of White Supremacy and the Democrats should be seizing on it. Bill Frist is a member of an all-WHITE country club; the mess in Afghanistan and how Bush & Saddam only pick on countries weaker than themselves; the mess in North Korea and our piss-poor response; Bush's attitude on affirmative action, the danger of his words and actions; the downfall of our economy since the stolen election. Mark contends they are crooks of the first order, reckless and hard hearted people." Also, check out Meria's recent interview with Bev Conover, editor of Online Journal.

The Myth of the Texas Miracle in Education
15-Jan-03
Stolen Election 2000

Here is a shocking example of media bias during the 2000 campaign. On August 19, 2000 - just before the start of the fall campaign - Professor Walt Haney of Boston College published a peer-reviewed article documenting "The Myth of the Texas Miracle in Education." Since this "miracle" was Bush's ONLY claim to having accomplished ANYTHING in his life, you might think the debunking of this myth might have warranted a tiny bit of media attention - perhaps on the order of the attention given to Al Gore's claim that a child had to stand in a crowded Florida classroom. But guess what - this article received NO coverage, and the myth lives on...

Jim Rutenberg writes: "The major television news networks and the Associated Press are seriously considering dissolving their decadelong partnership in the Voter News Service, the Election Day polling organization that was at the heart of the problems they had in reporting the results of the last two national elections, network executives close to the discussions said. At the very least, the partnership probably will scrap the multimillion-dollar upgrade of the service's computer system, its main component, which has been fraught with technical problems, the executives said. The dissolution of the partnership would leave in doubt the news media's plans for covering the primaries and the general election with a little over a year to go before the presidential campaign's first test in Iowa." Hooray - maybe the media will actually wait for all of the votes to be counted!

Writes Monica Friedlander: "On Nov. 18, almost two weeks after the Nov. 5 elections, Alabama's Democratic Governor Don Siegelman dropped his request for a recount and conceded the state's top office to Republican Bob Riley. Only two-tenths of one percent out of 1.36 million votes cast separated the candidates -- that after the election had first been called for the Democrat. Deja vu? You bet. Alabama 2002 is an eerie rerun of Florida 2000 -- minus the outrage."

Why Al Gore's Decision was Wrong
16-Dec-02
Al Gore

Bob Fertik writes, "In announcing his momentous decision not to run for President in 2004, Al Gore offered only a precious few words explaining why. For the millions of Americans who remain outraged over the 2000 election - and believe Al Gore deserves to occupy the office that was stolen from him by George W. Bush, his brother Jeb Bush, five Republican Justices on the U.S. Supreme Court, and the right-wing media led by FOX News - these few words were profoundly inadequate. Even more importantly, the reasoning behind those few words is historically wrong. In its usual fashion, the Republican media will not spend much time analyzing Gore's historic decision, and will instead turn its attention to the field of Democratic hopefuls [to] launch a campaign of personal destruction against each of these candidates. But for those of us who will never accept George Bush's theft of the Presidency, Gore's few words deserve a more thorough analysis."

After a Month-Long Recount, 535 Uncounted Ballots are Found in Colorado Race with 122-Vote Margin
10-Dec-02
Stolen Election 2002

It took Colorado officially one full month to complete a recount in the 7th Congressional District, where Bob Beauprez (R) leads Democrat Mike Feeley (D) by 122 votes. And on December 9, 535 UNCOUNTED ballots were discovered - the result of problems with new voting machines. "The county had new electronic machines this year, after 32 years of using punch card ballots... Of the three problematic early-voting machines, two inadvertently placed their tallies in the computers' subfiles and the workers were unaware that they were there, Miller said. The count on the third machine was simply missed, she said." The recount of 535 votes produced a net gain of 1 vote for Feeley, and Beauprez was declared the winner.

Stolen Election 2000 - the Web Site
10-Dec-02
Stolen Election 2000

On December 10, 2000, Supreme Injustice Antonin Scalia treasonously abused his judicial power by ordering an immediate halt to a statewide recount in Florida. Two days later, the Felonious Five betrayed America by discarding 175,000 UNCOUNTED ballots, thus appointing their fellow Republican, George W. Bush, as President. Democrats.com has carefully preserved all of our Stolen Election 2000 Web pages, so history will have a complete record of how George W. Bush stole the Presidency in the year 2000 - and how grassroots Democrats across the country fought heroically for the cause of Democracy.

The Committee to Restore The Rule of Law writes, "It has been two years since five members of the Supreme Court of the United States decided to select George W. Bush as leader of the free world, trampling on the right of the People to choose their elected representatives, and president. Since that time, we have been under constant terror by an administration out of control. The opposition has been silenced, our fears validated. In these times, when it appears as though our voices are not being heard, we must remember. We the People MUST never forget... On Thursday, 12/12/2002, in commemoration of Bush vs Gore and its unconstitutional, politically-driven majority opinion, let us all reflect the power given us, the People, by the U.S. Constitution. Let us vow to never forget until enough Americans rise up against this tyranny, and the Rule of Law is restored. We the People MUST never forget."

Computer insiders are increasingly becoming a greater risk to computer system security than high-tech bandits. Aggregating data (combining or making data accessible from various databases into one) has special security risks: the greater the potential payoff, the greater the risks. So, now that the government is hell-bent on computerizing every byte of your personal information, they are literally building a treasure trove for identity theft. But that's only one threat computers pose to the democratic process in our republic. "Risk experts feel even greater qualms about another system now moving toward the virtual realm: elections. This, democracy's biggest prize, will inevitably become a target for interested insiders as votes change from verifiable paper and mechanical ballots to bits, said Peter G. Neumann, a principal scientist at the computer science lab of SRI International, a research institution."

CNN.com reports: "Saying he didn't want to 'hurt Alabama,' Democratic Gov. Don Siegelman gave up his bid for a second term Monday and conceded the nation's last undecided governor's race to Republican Rep. Bob Riley...On election night, Siegelman initially led in unofficial returns and called on Riley to concede. But Riley jumped in front when officials in Baldwin County, a GOP stronghold, reduced Siegelman's total by nearly 7,000 votes, saying a computer glitch in their election system had overstated his returns. Siegelman's supporters filed petitions in every Alabama county seeking a recount. The move was all but shut down by Republican Attorney General Bill Pryor, who said recount rules do not override a state law that keeps ballots sealed except in limited circumstances. The state Supreme Court had been considering the legality of a recount when Siegelman made his decision."

The Illegal Coup of '02?
13-Nov-02
Stolen Election 2002

Link Crusader writes, "On Nov. 5 Did We Just Witness Another Illegal COUP D'ETAT in America ? Did the Democrats ACTUALLY WIN several key races on November 5, but rigged vote-counting made it APPEAR otherwise? 'Conveniently' with no VNS exit polls there was no data to compare with the 'official results'. With a huge budget and two years to plan this they chose to back out at the last minute, even though this meant paying huge refunds to 19 newspapers, and to TV networks." Check out the extensive collection of links.

No Retreat, No Surrender
12-Nov-02
Stolen Election 2002

Some mainstream and left-wing columnists and writers have largely blamed the Democratic Party leadership for last Tuesday's election disaster. They did exactly what Republican leaders wanted them to do; they cut down the Democratic Party and took the heat off the Republicans, writes Jackson Thoreau. "Yes, a big problem for Tuesday's election disaster was the lack of bold Democratic ideas. But a bigger problem was how much more money Republicans had....to run dirty, lying TV ads about their opponents," Thoreau says. Other bigger problems were how much dirtier Republican campaigns were, how Republicans keep Americans in fear, and how much more influence they have with the mainstream media. "I understand criticism of Democratic leadership and think much of it is valid," Thoreau adds. "But I have a problem with the way many on the left criticize Democrats and give the impression - even though it might be a false one - of leaving the Republicans who created most of the problems alone."

VoteWatch.us is an open forum for discussing election fraud issues. There are threads on many of the issues we identify in our "Stolen Election 2002" compendium (http://www.democrats.com/preview.cfm?term=Stolen%20Election%202002)

Texas Voters Were Exposed To Asbestos
11-Nov-02
Stolen Election 2002

MySanAntonio.com writes, "Moises Renovato III, wearing a mask to protect himself, treated his right to vote today as serious business. 'It is kind of scary, but I have to vote,' he said while standing behind a 12-foot green metal container used to dump hazardous materials from asbestos removal.
Renovato was among dozens of people who were told to wear a protective mask as a safety precaution while casting ballots at Douglas Elementary School.... At Braun Oaks Swim Club, the wrong ballots were delivered, causing a lot of confusion after the polling judges wrote in the wrong last name for a candidate. A polling-site judge confused the last name of a Democratic candidate, writing Joaquin Prado instead of Joaquin Castro. Elizabeth Conner, a volunteer for Nelson Balido, said many voters walked out of the polling site showing their discontent when they saw the wrong name, which was written by hand."

MySanAntonio.com reports, "Comal County elections officials noticed an extreme oddity after the final votes were tallied in Tuesday's general election. County Judge Danny Scheel received 18,181 votes in his victory over Lois Duggan. Republican state Sen. Jeff Wentworth also got 18,181 votes in Comal County in his win over Democrat Joseph Sullivan and Libertarian Rex Black. To make matters even stranger, Comal County also gave Republican Carter Casteel exactly 18,181 votes in her victory over Democrat Virgil Yanta in the race for District 73 state representative. 'Isn't that the weirdest thing?' County Clerk Joy Streater asked. 'We noticed it right away, but it is just a big coincidence. I checked the precincts and the numbers are all different in every precinct for each of them. They just coincidentally all add up to 18,181.'" The list of voting issues in Texas goes on an on, and they all favor the GOP.

BUZZFLASH: Doesn't electronic, touch screen voting actually improve the chances for large scale election fraud? Votes can more easily be lost with a little 'software glitch' or Democratic votes could become Republican votes and who would know the difference? PALAST: Hell, yes. The 'touch' screens are made by ES&S, chosen by Katherine Harris, congressional candidate. The lobbyist for that company is Sandy Mortham, founder of Women for Jeb - and Harris' predecessor as Secretary of State. It was Mortham that began the hunt for black voters in 1998. These Mortha-matic machines - surprise, surprise -failed to work in Black precincts. And there was no paper ballot back-up. It's not planned 'conspiracy' - it's what I call 'passive vote fraud.' You KNOW a screw up will occur that will wipe out your opponents votes ... and you simply don't do anything to prevent it... Passive fraud is no more legal than active fraud. But then, who's going to act on this? John Ashcroft?

AP writes, "A Scurry County election error reversed the outcomes in two commissioner races. A defective computer chip in the county's optical scanner misread ballots Tuesday night and incorrectly tallied a landslide victory for Republicans. Democrats actually won by wide margins. The problem was discovered when poll workers became suspicious of the margins of the vote, Scurry County Clerk Joan Bunch said." Does anyone really believe that it is a coincidence that so many votes for Democrats were given to the GOP candidate? Ron Kirk also in Texas had this problem. NJ Dems had problems when 90 of 94 voting machines couldn't vote for the Dem. candidate. Broward County forgot to count 103,000+ votes. Missouri Democratic counties "ran out of ballots". This is just a small list. Where is the Federal Investigation of another stolen election?

There Have Been Worse Days...And Worse Days To Come
09-Nov-02
Stolen Election 2002

Writes William Rivers Pitt: "George W. Bush now holds sole ownership of the power to make war across the globe...George W. Bush now holds sole ownership of the power to remake the Judiciary, from the Supreme Court on down. In this area, the Democrats had performed well. They had held off truly frightening nominees like Pickering, staunching Bush's desire to flood the courts with conservative activists. Now, virtually every nominee put forth will win a seat on the bench. With the impending retirement of a number of Supreme Court Justices, the implications of this free and open nomination process are profound. Consider well that this administration saw fit to nominate a religious extremist like John Ashcroft to the post of Attorney General. There will be more like him to come, and they will wear the black robe, and their word will be law. A conservative version of the Cabinet-level Homeland Security Department will be created, sharpening the teeth of the PATRIOT Act."

The Importance of a Vote
09-Nov-02
Stolen Election 2002

Washington Post.com reports: "They said the Democrats were a solid bet to hang on to the Senate. They said many of the races were tight as a tick. They said these were primarily local contests in which a president couldn't have much impact. So what do journalists have to say for themselves now? Were they, once again, slavishly wedded to a conventional wisdom that turned out to be wrong? How did so many of them miss Tuesday's Republican tide? 'It caught everybody by surprise,' says Ron Brownstein, political correspondent for the Los Angeles Times. 'Why limit it to the press? If you talked to Republican professionals on Thursday and Friday, they were not expecting a two-seat Senate gain'...Who really knows whether the president's frenetic campaigning made the difference? Besides, a switch of roughly 29,000 votes in Minnesota, 11,500 in Missouri and 9,500 in New Hampshire would have produced a Democratic Senate and gobs of stories about how the White House blew it."

Empty Victory for a Hollow Man
09-Nov-02
Stolen Election 2002

Garrison Keillor writes: "Norm Coleman won Minnesota because he was well-financed and well-packaged. Norm is a slick retail campaigner, the grabbiest and touchingest and feelingest politician in Minnesota history, a hugger and baby-kisser, and he's a genuine boomer candidate who reinvents himself at will. The guy is a Brooklyn boy who became a left-wing student radical at Hofstra University with hair down to his shoulders, organized antiwar marches, said vile things about Richard Nixon, etc. Then he came west, went to law school, changed his look, went to work in the attorney general's office in Minnesota. Was elected mayor of St. Paul as a moderate Democrat, then swung comfortably over to the Republican side. There was no dazzling light on the road to Damascus, no soul-searching: Norm switched parties as you'd change sport coats."

David Bauder writes: "Disappointed news organizations began an inquiry Wednesday regarding the technical failures that bedeviled Voter News Service after its rebuilt operations failed to deliver crucial information for the midterm U.S. elections. Two television news operations said they were reconsidering their participation in the elections consortium. 'Obviously, we're taking a very hard look at what happened yesterday and are reassessing our future participation in the consortium,' said Jeffrey Schneider, spokesman for ABC News. CNN said it too was evaluating its future course. VNS is an elections consortium of ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox and The Associated Press....Tuesday's election marked the first public test of a system revamped following the 2000 election, when TV networks twice used VNS data to make wrong calls in the decisive Florida vote for the presidency." Those exit polls can be pesky for election thiefs!

Now, This Is War: A Refrain, In Thomas Carlyle Fashion, by the so-called 'Dumbed-Down Left'
08-Nov-02
Stolen Election 2002

Writes CLG's Mike Rectenwald: "Given the obvious fact that the Republican agenda is anathema to the interests of any majority, in the US or the world at large, one might conclude, with some Europeans, that Americans are either suicidal, mentally retarded, or both. But this is not the case; Europeans cannot imagine the extent to which the American media has, especially since the repeal of the Fairness in Broadcasting Act (circa 1986), been overrun by corporate interests allied to the Republican agenda. Nor do Europeans, with a strong leftist tradition, understand the failure of the US political system to develop any substantial opposition party to forcefully and clearly articulate a political vision other than the one foisted by said corporate media. The articulation of an alternative is left to the castigated voices of the Internet, like those of the CLG. If the people are 'dumbed down,' it is only because they suffer from paucity of real political education and analysis."

CNN.com writes: "Nationwide, Gore bested Bush by slightly more than 330,000 popular votes, but electoral votes [actually the Supreme Court, which stopped the vote counting] chose the president." According to the National Archives, Al Gore received 540,520 more popular votes than Bush ( http://www.archives.gov/federal_register/electoral_college/popular_vote_2000.html ) Tell CNN to honestly report Al Gore's popular vote victory over Bush - e-mail cnn@cnn.com !

CNN.com reports: "A computer glitch in South Florida's Broward County caused 103,222 ballots not to be counted on election night, but the missing votes did not affect the outcome of any races, county officials said Thursday. The Broward County Election Department said the software error was discovered between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. Wednesday, revising voter turnout from 35 percent to 45 percent once the votes were counted. Broward County, north of Miami, includes Fort Lauderdale and was the center of controversy over votes cast using a punch card voting system in the 2000 presidential election. The Florida Secretary of State's office praised Broward officials saying they did an 'excellent job' in finding the discrepancy in the overall vote total and correcting it....David Host, a spokesman for the Florida secretary of state, had called the elections 'an unqualified success.'"

It is no wonder why the GOP won so many races. Unlike Saddam Hussein, who just had his name as the only candidate, the GOP actually allowed other names to be on the ballot...except, votes were not counted in Broward (over 104,000 votes just happened to be missed), votes in Texas for Ron Kirk showed up for the GHP candidate, Democratic areas in Missouri ran out of ballots and were not allowed to stay open late, and now in Cherry Hill, NJ, in 90 or 94 polling places, you could not vote for the Democratic mayor as the button would not go down, and Democratic voters were turned away. Everyone should ask themselves if the GOP really won this election, or if they just stole this election!

The L.A. Times and other prominent newspapers rushed too quickly to pat Florida on the back for its supposedly smooth election. Florida newspapers are rife with reports of glitches and incomplete returns. But of course, the national media would prefer to cover up any complaints that might question Dubya's brother's legitimacy!

CNN.com reports: "Bush has spent much of the past two years raising millions of dollars for GOP candidates. The White House put forth an unprecedented effort for a midterm campaign: Bush raised more than $200 million for the cycle, including more than $140 million this year. (Bush) visited 40 states in all, 30 of them at least twice...Dick Cheney raised more than $40 million and traveled nearly constantly in the final months of the campaign, making roughly 30 trips since August. In the final month alone, 12 of the 14 members of the Bush Cabinet made stops in a combined 33 states....The political travel was coordinated by the White House office of political affairs, which several officials said kept a detailed list of activity by Bush team members, accounting for campaign stops and fund raising. Officials refused to release the list, a reflection of White House sensitivity to Democratic criticism of the administration's level of political activity."

Eric Alterman writes, "I watched the election returns, as I always do, with the sound off last night and went to bed real early. But I'm guessing that not too many pundits on those endless gabfests focused on the fact that, as reported by AP, the Republican National Committee and its congressional campaign arms had outraised their Democratic counterparts by $184 million through mid-October. This does not include, of course, the billions Bush gave them through the federal government. This is the kind of thing that makes all the difference in close races and that's just what happened last night."

Terry McAullife declared, "The tactics being used around the country to intimidate voters and suppress voter turnout are nothing less than despicable. We have seen 'anonymous' fliers displayed in predominantly African American communities in Baltimore, MD, with an incorrect Election Day date, warning voters to ... take care of any outstanding warrants before they go vote. Maryland Republicans [said] their campaign plans include deploying off-duty police officers as poll watchers on Election Day. In Hidalgo County, TX a Republican poll monitor for Republican Senate candidate John Cornyn had to be escorted out of the polling place by law enforcement for harassing senior Hispanic voters and using derogatory language... Mr [Bush], do not let our election process fall prey to dirty political shenanigans once again. Tell your Republican party operatives to cease their voter intimidation practices and let Americans exercise their right to vote free of harassment and intimidation...'"

"I voted for McBride, but the machine counted it as Bush. It did this three times. The polling worker finally said, 'We have to reprogram this machine. Another person was having the same trouble while I was there.'" So claimed a caller to a Southern Florida talk show. "I pushed the screen for McBride and it marked Bush. They called over a technician, he reset it," claimed a second caller. "I'll tell you right now, this election is fixed!" roared Rogers. "It's not even 10:30 in the morning."

An Open Letter to NY Times Columnist Nicholas Kristof
05-Nov-02
media bias

Bob Fertik writes, "Dear Nicholas: I read with interest your attack on the 'intelligent left.' I note that when reporting on Saudi Arabia, you take the time and trouble to actually visit Saudi Arabia and talk with a few of its citizens. But when you report on the 'intelligent left', you exert no more effort than grabbing a few titillating headlines for rhetorical effect. Exactly how is that different from what you accuse us of doing? If you're interested in actually interviewing a member of the 'intelligent left,' I'd be delighted to oblige. Here's what you'll learn - there are millions of Americans who will never 'get over' the stolen election of 2000. If this happened in another country, I am confident you would be on the side of pro-democracy activists. But in your own country, you side with those who stole the election, and dismiss pro-democracy activists with rhetorical contempt. I have a simple question: why?"

NY Times reports, "The Central Intelligence Agency, using a missile fired by an unmanned Predator aircraft, killed a senior leader of Al Qaeda and five low-level associates traveling by car in Yemen on Sunday. The missile strike killed Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi, also known as Abu Ali, a man they described as the senior Qaeda operative in Yemen and perhaps one of the top dozen or so Qaeda figures in the world. A C.I.A. spokesman refused to comment today. Nor would White House officials confirm the Predator strike in Yemen or say whether Bush had personally authorized it." That's because Karl Rove personally authorized it - to get Republicans out to vote. Defeat ALL Republicans!

NY Times reports, "Some officials are skeptical [of touch screen voting machines]. They worry that in most cases, voters have no way of knowing if their intent is actually registered. Other officials worry about security because the software is proprietary information kept by the vendor, so election officials are at the mercy of the vendors for their results. This situation also means a county has to keep using that same vendor for the lifetime of the machine. Kim Alexander, president of the California Voter Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Davis [CA] that studies new technologies, is one skeptic. 'It's not enough to ask voters, 'Do you like it?' ' she said. 'You have to ask them, 'Do you trust it?' And 'Will you trust it if there's a recount? Will you trust it if there's no paper trail?'" Not when the owners of the manufacturers - and the supervisors of elections - are partisan Republicans!

Journalist Joshua Micah Marshall exposes a "flyer distributed in African-American precincts this morning in Baltimore, Maryland, which tells voters they must pay off all parking tickets, traffic tickets, back rent and outstanding warrants before voting. You gotta see it to believe it. Also, note incorrect date of election day. Republicans? Voter suppression? Oh, C'mon..." Defeat ALL Republicans!

Stolen Election 2002 - More Problems Designed To Make YOU So Disgusted YOU Don't Vote - Don't Fall For It!
04-Nov-02
Stolen Election 2002

Tom Blackburn writes, "It's very difficult to say it's a fair election," said Jesse Ventura, "when they've already said that anyone that voted absentee with the name 'Paul Wellstone' won't be counted, and anyone who voted absentee with the name 'Norm Coleman' will be counted....A party can make its own luck. If you felt strangely soiled after a weekend of watching ads that seem to portray each candidate as a serial killer, relax. You were soiled. The ad wasn't supposed to make you vote for the serial killer's opponent. It's supposed to make you disgusted enough to stay away from the polls." In South Dakota, John Ashcroft has sent the FBI over to the Indian Reservations to intimidate Indian voters from voting. Don't forget about the phone calls in Florida that lied about the absentee deadlines. After all of this lying and cheating, why would anyone vote for the GOP?

Latoya Craig writes, "I recently had the experience of Voter Fraud in Caldwell County NC... People/family members that I know were actually paid for their vote and if they brought someone else to vote and they voted Republican they also were paid. I actually took people to the polls to vote and thought I was doing a good thing until I found out that they were changing their party (which I later found out has to be done 90 days prior to an election). I just cannot believe that people will actually sell their right to vote, but what's more amazing is that the officials conducting this little (whatever) target the project's crack heads - they get one crack head to gather other welfare and other project dwellers and take them to vote and they get paid after the person votes they get a total of $25. I hope that by reporting this to the Local District attorney, and the SBI someone will be able to do something before Tuesday." Note: we forwarded this to the NC and county Democratic chairs.

Palm Beach Post writes, "Early voting the day before Election Day was already heavy this morning. Lines at the northeast County Courthouse on PGA Boulevard were 70 people deep and the wait was an hour and a half. Lines at South County administrative complex in Delray Beach were also long. About 100 people were waiting to cast their absentee ballots midmorning and wait was about two hours." A note to all of the people that will be waiting on line to vote tomorrow: if you are in line when the polls close, you are entitled by law to cast your vote, even if they have to stay open hours past the closing hour deadline. Count EVERY Vote!

Once again Matt Drudge made up a story, reports it as news, and is WRONG. This time it was to smear Mark Pryor, the Democratic candidate for the Arkansas Senate race. Early Monday, Pryor's campaign released a notarized affidavit that bore the signature "Hortencia Osorio." She had signed beneath two paragraphs in Spanish, and an English version was provided by the Pryor campaign. It said that when she worked for Pryor she was a legal resident of the United States and provided documentation to the Pryor family that proved her legal status. Sorry Matt, you were WRONG and Mark Pryor is going to make a wonderful Democratic Senator. By the way, how is the former wife of Senator Hutchinson?

The head of the Orange County Florida Democratic Party "said they have evidence of voter fraud as workers process absentee ballots. At a warehouse near the Orange County supervisor of elections office, completed absentee ballots are processed in preparation for Election Day. The head of the Orange County Democratic Executive Committee, Doug Head, believes some of the absentee ballots returned are fraudulent -- the voters' signatures are thought to be forgeries. In a sample of seven randomly chosen ballots, Head said four were possible forgeries. The ballots were pulled for review by a canvassing board. 'Some Hispanic voters may have had ballots cast for themselves that they don't even know about, and that would be a tragedy'... Head said he's already discovering strange statistical information: A batch of more than 400 absentee ballot requests received at the same time all from Hispanic Republicans, who are new residents with no voting history."

BuzzFlash writes, "The following message is an actual 'Jim Crow' alert that NewsMax sent out on behalf of the 'Committee to Stop Bill McBride.' It reeks of racism and efforts to intimidate black voters, as if there were something wrong with black Americans voting. The Committee to Stop Bill McBride could not exist without the tacit support of Jeb Bush. The following e-mail typifies the Brown Shirt, thuggish tactics of the racist South before the era of civil rights. This is what the Republican party is all about, at its heart, returning America to the pre-Civil War days when blacks, needless to say, didn't have a right to vote... This is an organized party of thugs. When we finally get a Democratic administration in power again, the GOP and its surrogate 'Jim Crow' organizations should be prosecuted under the RICO act for trying to keep Americans from exercising their right to vote."

John Kaminski writes, "What really determines elections is who counts the votes, and who counts the votes is somebody you probably didn't know, and if you did know them, you surely wouldn't trust them to count the votes. No government agency counts the votes. And the people who count the votes, who tell you who your next president is, have no government oversight, no audit, no official you have elected watching over them. The people who really count the votes are the media, more specifically a politically influenced cabal of minions bought and paid for by corporate tycoons who own the nation's major media outlets. These are the same people who don't think peace demonstrations are worthy of coverage, and who in the year 2000 got together and reviewed the data from Florida and then really wouldn't tell us what they found out. They'd only say ... 'Bush won,' just like the Supreme Court."

GOP Absentee Ballots in Maryland are Thrown Out Because the Application Was Illegal
01-Nov-02
Stolen Election 2002

To get out the vote, the Republican Party in Maryland resorted to the usual questionable tactic of mailing out its own absentee ballot applications. This is the same tactic Republicans used in Florida, and it had the same fatal flaw: Maryland law requires applicants to provide their date of birth, but the Republican version of the application form didn't request it. So the state attorney general quite rightly ruled that the applications are illegal, and the applicants therefore will not get ballots. The Party of Personal Responsibility is blaming the Democrats for the illegal applications being declared illegal. The Maryland GOP should have at least used some of the gazillions of dollars Bush has hoovered up for the party to hire a proofreader.

More Florida Voting Problems: It is Mathematically Impossible To Have Every Registered Voter Cast a Vote in Broward County
01-Nov-02
Stolen Election 2002

We all know of many problems in the Florida Voting System, but here is a new one. According to the Palm Beach Post, "Broward has 5,265 touchscreen voting machines for its more than 978,000 registered voters. With every voter in the county expected to take 15 minutes using the machines, voters will likely be accepted for hours past the 7 p.m. scheduled closing time." Now look at this mathematically. 15 minutes per voter per machine equates to 4 voters per hour per machine. 5265 voting machines x 4 votes per hour = 21,060 votes per hour. The polling place is open for 12 hours, which totals 252,720 votes, using the state election's voting time estimates. This allows for only 26% of the 978,000 registered voters! This is pure voter disenfranchisement, but Republicans refuse to permit paper ballots so voters aren't forced to wait for hours. Get ready for Stolen Election 2002!

John B. Judis writes, "For the most part, Republicans this election cycle aren't trying to woo black voters by offering their own solutions to issues such as poverty or civil rights. Rather, they're trying to convince them not to vote at all by sowing cynicism about white Democrats, even implying they are racist. This 'depress the vote' strategy becomes even clearer when viewed in conjunction with the GOP's ongoing efforts to subtly intimidate black voters with dubious charges of election fraud...Conservative Republicans may be paying more attention to black voters than in the past--and they may be smiling as they speak--but when this mask of warm-hearted concern is drawn aside, the GOP's strategy is still aimed less at creating diverse black political participation than at trying to persuade black Americans to participate as little as possible."

Urgent Expose from Greg Palast - To Steal a Second Term, Jeb Will Prevent Up to 91,000 Legal Voters from Voting in Florida on Tuesday!
01-Nov-02
Stolen Election 2002

Greg Palast writes, "In Dec. 2000, we reported that Florida's use of a faulty and politically questionable list of felons and dead people 'scrubbed' from voter rolls - half of them African-Americans - may have cost Al Gore the 537-vote margin of victory claimed by George W. Bush in Florida. [Now] Jeb is fighting to fend off a challenge from Bill McBride for the governor's race. The Nov. 5 face-off could again come down to thousands, if not hundreds, of votes... DBT Online... reports that if it followed strict criteria to eliminate those errors, [only] 3,000 names would remain - and a whopping 91,000 people would have their voting rights restored. Eventually the list will be fixed, state officials have promised, in accordance with a settlement with the NAACP in its civil rights suit against Florida following the 2000 election. But not until the beginning of next year - and after Jeb Bush's reelection bid is long over." Call talk shows and denounce Jeb's plans to steal ANOTHER election!

Jackson Thoreau details the long litany of GOP voting fraud schemes to steal the 2002 election, including some aided by Libertarians. Michigan: Rpugs plant Trojan Horse Democrats as candidates in nine senate seats (exposed); Texas: Voting machines rigged to shift mark for Dem into Repug column; Arkansas: GOP campaign workers harass black voters trying to register; South Dakota: GOP "spotters" sent to reservations to intimidate Native American voters; Minnesota: White House calls Jesse Ventura to ask him to throw out Wellstone absentee votes and keep only GOP; Florida: (where to start!?) latest - fliers being mailed to voters in Dem. Districts saying election day is Nov. 6. And across the nation, elections may be stolen by Bush's amazing abuse of Air Force One as a GOP "campaign trail" shuttle - using OUR money. Call talk shows and tell EVERY DEMOCRAT to vote to stop the Republicans from stealing ANOTHER election!

WBC880News.com writes, "Some questions have prompted the state Republican Party to stop telephone calls to Republicans featuring a recorded message about absentee ballots from...George W. Bush. The message urges listeners to use an absentee ballot application that they received in the mail. Listeners might have misinterpreted the message and tried to use an absentee ballot when they were not qualified to do so, Jeffrey Garfield said." We demand an investigation!

The Right-Wing Wants Us to Believe Voter Turnout Will Be Low
31-Oct-02
Stolen Election 2002

Curtis Gans, director of the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate, is telling anyone who will listen that voter turnout will be even lower this year than in 1998, when only 35.3% of the voting-age population cast ballots. The Committee for the Study of the American Electorate is a "nonpartisan" organization, of course. But it probably won't surprise you learn that Curtis Gans is most frequently quoted by right-wing publications like Rev. Moon's Washington Times. And his "nonpartisan" organization has received large grants from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, which Media Transparency describes as "the country's largest and most influential right-wing foundation". Expect to see more reports like this one through election day. They are intended to make people feel discouraged and lose interest in democracy. Don't let them fool you.

Report Election Fraud to the Democratic Party at 866-VOTE-411
30-Oct-02
Stolen Election 2002

Democratic Party chair Terry McAuliffe said, "We have an innovative new voting rights protection feature that I want to demonstrate today. It's a toll-free assistance line, a pilot program, which will be up and running on Election Day. So if you've gone to the polls and they say you're not on the registration list or they claim you need to show multiple forms of ID...you can call and get help. The number is 1-866-VOTE-411. You'll be prompted to enter your 5-digit zip code... you can leave a recorded message about the problem you're having...and then you'll be transferred either to a Democratic Party 'Promote and Protect' call center or your local County Board of Elections. No political party or media outlet or non-profit has the ability to monitor every polling place where there might be problems. But using this new state-of-the-art technology, we can capture voting rights problems in real time, as they are occurring, and address the situation immediately."

USA Today writes, "Radio talk-show hosts are setting up shop on the White House lawn today to interview Cabinet secretaries and top administration officials. Democrats say Bush is using his office to give the [Grand Hypocrisy Party] an unfair edge 6 days before elections. 'It reeks of an inappropriate mix of politics and official business' says Jennifer Palmieri, a spokeswoman for the DNC. 'Radio day'-- held in a heated tent to fight DC's unseasonable mid-40s chill -- is the latest example of Bush's willingness to use all the tools of the presidency to boost [GHP] candidates' chances. He's wielding his popularity and ability to grab headlines to make the case for the importance of the [GHP] agenda." Radio guests will include Donald Rumsfeld, John Ashcroft, Colin Powell, Paul O'Neill and Don Evans. Hey Ashcroft, we thought you were against prostitution - this is as bad as it gets!

"Voter empowerment begins with voter education. In 20 states, People For the American Way Foundation, along with our state and national allies, have analyzed election laws, consulted with election officials, and produced a 'Voters' Bill of Rights' that tells voters in plain language precisely what their rights are at the polls. We encourage you to download, copy, and distribute these to as many voters as you can leading up to and on Election Day. Our Voters' Bills of Rights for all 20 states are in English and Spanish. In 2000, it is estimated that over 6 million votes were lost due to problems with voter registration, problems at the polls, and problems with ballots. We hope that by educating voters about their rights, we can keep this national disaster from occurring again. Do your part by downloading the Voters' Bill of Rights for your state and distributing it to as many voters as possible! Call our voter hotline at 1-866-OUR-VOTE if you have any questions or problems voting!"

Air Force One, $34,400 per hour. Cargo planes for the presidential convoy, $5,000 to $7,000 per hour. Marine One helicopter, $5,597 per hour. Special setup at campaign appearances, $20,000 to $50,000. White House staff expenses, $29,000 to $56,000. That's how much the taxpayers have to shell out for Bush to be constantly on the road trying to achieve a one-party government. That doesn't count the cost of security, including enforcing the infamous First Amendment Zones. And it doesn't count how much the communities "lucky" enough to receive a Bush visit have to pay for local law enforcement and other services.

Karl Rove IS Bush's Brain on Everything From War To Stolen Elections
27-Oct-02
Karl Rove

Matt Bai writes that almost everything (except White House tours) passes through Karl Rove's office. Rove determines "every major domestic-policy decision, from stem cells to farm subsidies. At the same time, he has de facto control of the Republican Party... There is a kind of Wonderland dynamic at work here, in which the White House asserts its own curious reality, no matter how plain the contradictions... Rove's personal and forceful intervention in state races is extraordinary... 'He can go through nearly every race in every district... He can tell you more about the South Dakota Senate race than anyone in South Dakota'... Rove adores politics; he has spent much of his life consumed by it. But unlike the late Lee Atwater, his close friend and mentor, Rove is not content to be seen as a political operative. [No one] has Rove's singular influence on both politics and policy."

Bob Poe, chair of the Florida Democratic Party, received a telephone call Friday afternoon from someone urging him to cast his absentee ballot on Nov. 10 - five days after Election Day. The caller said he was from Bill McBride's gubernatorial campaign. Jeb Bush campaign denies all knowledge of the calls. Interfering with an election is a federal crime - we DEMAND prosecution!

USA Today's Jim Drinkard writes, "The Republican Party has compiled a national database of 3,273 names of people who it says apparently voted more than once in the 2000 elections. It is turning the list over to local authorities for investigation and possible prosecution... CT, the first state to check the GOP's multiple-voting data, found it 'highly flawed.' Officials said that at least 51 of 54 names listed as voting both in CT and elsewhere were erroneous. Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz, a Democrat, called the list 'a deliberate attempt to distract election officials across the country from their responsibility to encourage voter participation.' In NC, officials found that the first name on the double-voting list was that of state Rep. Martha Alexander, a Democrat who chairs the General Assembly's panel on election laws." Call GOP Chair Marc Racicot at 202.863.8500 and tell him to stop LYING about double voting!

NY Times reports, "State law prohibits corporations from contributing more than $5,000 a year... [But] a review of state campaign finance records turned up dozens of cases in which major donors to Mr. Pataki used multiple corporate entities to give amounts far greater than the limits imposed by state law on corporations or individuals. Other donors legally surpassed such limits by giving tens of thousands of dollars to Mr. Pataki in Virginia, where the governor has set up two political action committees, one of which has no cap under that state's laws. Donations from just the top 20 of these creative givers total $2.4 million during the current election cycle, according to an examination of campaign finance records by The New York Times. The total does not include an additional $1.3 million that these same 20 donors have given to state and city Republican parties that are also spending money to support the governor's campaign." Defeat ALL Republicans!

As we approach the midterm elections, it's important to remember how the Republicans rigged the last presidential election. Wayne Barrett in the Village Voice provides a partial list of the crimes, including Jim Baker's Florida legislative coup; Republican legal pleas for manual recounts; the "bourgeois riot"; Bush resistance to a real final vote count; and the ultimate judicial coup d'etat by the Supreme Court. The Felonious Five soiled itself for posterity by interfering in the states' rights issue of voting, arguing that counting the votes would be injurious to democracy.

CNN.com reports: "Less than two weeks before the election,...Dick Cheney is scrambling for 11th-hour campaign contributions that could help Republicans protect their fragile hold on the House. Cheney has been the White House road warrior this year, hauling in more than $22 million for Republicans in 74 campaign appearances. He outpaced Bush, who logged 66 events before closing out his fund raising last week and shifting to a pure get-out-the-vote mode. Almost all of Cheney's appearances, in 38 states plus the District of Columbia, have been on behalf of candidates for the House, where the GOP holds a thin advantage. A shift of seven seats would throw the chamber to Democrats. This year's aggressive travel itinerary came at a time when the White House began planning for war against Iraq -- a process in which Cheney is instrumental. Between them, Bush and Cheney have raised more than $163 million."

Stealth Right Wing Group Buys $1 Million on TV to Defeat Wellstone
24-Oct-02
Stolen Election 2002

Star Tribune writes, "Americans for Job Security, a Virginia-based interest group that opposes the reelection of Democratic U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone, has made an unprecedented $1 million ad buy that will fill the airwaves in the last two weeks before the election, according to Wellstone campaign officials. Campaign manager Jeff Blodgett said the buy is so large that it may equal what Wellstone and Republican rival Norm Coleman and the two state parties each are expected to spend on media in the closing weeks. Blodgett said his biggest concern is that no one knows who funds the mysterious group, which has found a legal loophole that apparently allows it to keep its donors secret. 'In a state with a reputation for clean, transparent campaigns, this is an outrage, that a group can come in and spend this kind of money and no one knows who their donors are,' Blodgett said. 'We demand to know. We ask Norm Coleman to join us in this.'" Call Coleman at 651-645-0766!

Red X's and Green Checkmarks
24-Oct-02
Stolen Election 2002

Jonathan Weisman writes: "Seeking to fill a void in the low-interest congressional campaigns, pro-Republican businesses are muscling into the Nov. 5 elections in novel ways, stuffing voter guides into pay envelopes, e-mailing workers with candidate report cards, and mounting get-out-the-vote drives that take a page from organized labor....More than in any other election year, companies are testing new ways to get friendly voters to the polls. They include direct, workplace appeals to employees and get-out-the-vote drives that until recently would have been considered taboo....straying over the line of propriety, if not legality. 'There are some new and particularly blatant techniques out there,' said Matt Keller, legislative director for Common Cause....an ExxonMobil 'Citizen Action Team' Web site, available through the company's Web site, includes more pointed candidate scorecards,...a politician's vote for the company's position gets a green check; a vote against gets a bold red X."

Reports the Dallas Morning News: "Dallas County Democrats asked a state district court judge to shut down early voting Tuesday because some touch-screen ballot machines hadn't accurately recorded votes... The Democrats said they received several dozen complaints Monday and Tuesday from people who said that they selected a Democratic candidate but that their vote appeared beside the name of a Republican on the screen... 'We don't know if we lost 10 votes, 100 votes, 1,000 or 10,000,' said Susan Hays, chairwoman of the Dallas County Democratic Party... The touch-screen machines - made by Election Systems & Software - have been used in more than 90 Dallas County elections in the past four years and have an outstanding record overall, [county elections administrator Bruce] Sherbet said. But the Dallas News also notes that last year, 'about 5,000 of nearly 18,000 ballots cast during the early voting period [an astonishing 28%!] were not properly assigned to candidates.'"

"Bush has made Republican success on Nov. 5 a government-wide project," reports the Washington Post. "More than 300 administration appointees, some of whom were told by White House officials that they needed to show their Republican credentials, have taken vacation time and are being flown by the party to House and Senate campaigns in states where control of Congress will be decided to organize volunteers, work the phones, and go door to door....Bobby L. Harnage Sr., president of the American Federation of Government Employees...said he has been hearing increasing complaints about what his members consider politicization of their work." (Darn those pesky union members! No wonder Bush demands "flexibility" for "his" Homeland Security Department.) And, despite the "imminent threat" of Iraq, Bush is out-stumping them all, says WP, noting that Bush starts "12 days of barnstorming in battleground states and districts" on Thursday. Say, George, who's minding the W-ars?

'Unprecedented' Brings Back the Anger over the Stolen Election
23-Oct-02
Stolen Election 2000

David Cogswell writes, "The film is a good summary of the election fraud of 2000. It does a remarkable job of summarizing the whole ugly mess in about an hour. Oh God, it's a miserable experience seeing it, seeing those swindlers, the smarmy Bush boys and that hideous Katharine Harris -- close up and personal and ... sweaty. Though it was only an hour long, the hardest thing was to remain seated. As the rage surged through my blood, the reflexes in my knees kept firing, wanting to straighten and shoot me up out of my chair like a missile. Seeing it all go by again in compressed form brought all that poison back, or perhaps stirred up the poison that's been sitting there for two years. Therein lies the value of going through the deep nausea of recalling it: it enables you to exorcise it." Order your copy at http://democrats.com/unprecendented ($30).

People for the American Way, the NAACP, the National Council of La Raza, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and a wide range of national and state organizations have formed an alliance to defend our right to vote. The Election Protection program includes voter education, get-out-the-vote activities, and monitoring of polling places on Election Day. You can make a difference!

The Republican Party's idea of "election reform" is apparently preventing anybody from voting who might vote for anybody but a Republican. At the early voting location in Jefferson County, Arkansas, Republican poll watchers demanded IDs from prospective voters (which is illegal), tried to watch the voters cast their votes (which is definitely illegal), and otherwise interfered so much with the democratic process that the chairman of the Election Commission called police twice to escort the offending poll watcher out of the building. We can expect such tactics all over the country on Election Day. Call your local Democratic Party office and volunteer to be a pro-democracy poll monitor.

VT Dems writes, "GOP candidates Jim Douglas (Gov), Brian Dubie (Lt. Gov) and their Republican henchman are getting ready to steal your vote. How? By arguing that the person with the most votes does not necessarily win. In Vermont, if no candidate for governor, lt. governor or treasurer gets more than 50% of the vote, the legislature chooses the winner. The last time this process was used to overturn the will of the voters and select a person who did not receive the most votes for governor was 1853. If the Republicans succeed, they will give new meaning to the term 'take back Vermont.' Don't let the Republican make your choice on Election Day meaningless. Your vote is your voice. Write a letter to the editor. Demand that your local candidates for the legislature respect the will of the voters and will support the person that gets the most votes. Tell Jim Douglas and Brian Dubie that you won't let them steal your vote!" Listen to the fabulous radio ad that compares VT with FL.

New York Law Journal reports, "When election law expert and longtime Republican activist Thomas J. Spargo was caught on film participating in a noisy political demonstration, nobody close to politics was particularly surprised... [But] at the same time he was stumping [no, RIOTING!] for George W. Bush and chanting with other Republican supporters at what amounted to a boisterous sit-in, Spargo was serving as a part-time judge in the rural Albany County town of Berne. Judges are not supposed to get involved in politics. Now, Spargo is a state Supreme Court justice, and the Commission on Judicial Conduct is hot on the tail of the onetime feisty election law litigator and political firebrand. The commission has accused Justice Spargo of multiple ethical breaches for his political conduct." We demand "Justice" Spargo's impeachment, his disbarment, and hard time in jail!

Election in Jeb's Banana Republic Will Be Monitored By Third World Voting Fraud Experts
17-Oct-02
Stolen Election 2002

"A county in Florida has voted to hire election monitors - normally used to watching for corruption and irregularities in new democracies - to observe upcoming elections. Miami-Dade County has been stung by the recent voting difficulties in the primary race for the Democratic nomination for governor, and by the massive controversy around the 2000 presidential election. So the county government narrowly voted on Tuesday to hire experts from the Washington-based Centre for Democracy to watch over its elections on 5 November. County commissioners voted 6-5 to pay the Center for Democracy $92,000 to watch over the county's running of the elections in which voters will choose a state governor, as well as federal and state lawmakers. The Washington-based organisation has previously sent monitors to elections in El Salvador, Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua, Poland and Russia, among other countries." - BBC

Chicago Tribune reports, "Gore urged Democrats [in Iowa] to keep the anger from the 2000 presidential race in mind when voting in the Nov. 5 elections, invoking the historic controversy for the first time... 'I want you to remember not just what you were thinking, I want you to remember what you were feeling,' Gore said at a Democratic rally. 'The next time somebody says to you that it does not make any difference who wins the election, think about all that has happened since that election'... The most forceful political remarks from Gore were invoked at three stops when he asked Democrats to recall his presidential race two years ago, including the split decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that ended a 36-day legal battle in Florida. 'Are you completely over that?' Gore asked his audiences. 'No!' the crowds shouted. 'God no!' The exchange was a striking contrast to previous statements from Gore that he was at peace and had accepted the Supreme Court's decision."

"Sensitive campaign material was stolen from the headquarters of (Tennessee's) Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Bredesen during a break-in over the weekend, campaign officials said. Among the items missing from the Music Row office are a computer that includes confidential campaign strategy points and a laptop with donor lists and other financial information, said Dave Cooley, Bredesen's senior strategist. Bredesen said he thinks the burglar or burglars were after information and not the equipment. 'Those would have been the two computers I would have wanted to take,' Bredesen said, noting dozens of other computers were left untouched. 'Somebody knew what they were doing.' Desks that were left locked were found unlocked, computers were turned on, and things had been rifled, Lenker said. Police spokesman Don Aaron said there were no signs of forced entry. The office, located in a building at One Music Circle North, is secured with a card swipe system."

Karen Hughes, Bush's nursemaid and chief Valkyrie, has proven that when the going gets tough, the nasty get nastier. Jackson Thoreau reports that Hughes is now trying to shore up her sagging boy by strongarming several key Texas campaigns, including those of John Cornyn (Senate), Rick Perry (governor) and David Dewhurst (Lt. Gov). "Karl Rove is also heavily involved in advising these campaigns," says Thoreau. "Bush & Co. do not want to lose a top Texas position to the Democrats, which would be seen as a huge SLAAAAPPPPP!! to Bush's face. Bush himself has wasted more public taxpayers' dollars by flying several times recently on Air Force One to Texas to campaign for Cornyn, Perry, and Dewhurst, rather than actually work on issues like the economy and national security." He leaves that to Dick Cheney and the Carlyle Group.

Miami Herald reports: "Faced with a disastrous mix of inexperienced poll workers, delayed precinct openings and outraged voters at last month's primary, county officials called their own cavalry -- the Miami-Dade Police Department -- to restore order by the Nov. 5 general election.... Police Director Carlos Alvarez... is in charge of putting together the election -- from logistics and transportation to staffing and training. The biggest use of department staff will occur around Nov. 4, when hundreds of officers will escort trucks hauling the 7,200 iVotronic voting machines to 553 polling places. An officer will be stationed outside those buildings until the next morning, when a precinct clerk opens up....The plan is viewed with skepticism by some civil-liberties and national voter-rights organizations and local activists, who say the idea of uniformed police at polling places brings back memories of the 1950s and '60s, when blacks fought for the right to vote."

Louisiana politics are starting to sound a lot like Florida's. While Katherine Harris did everything she could to manipulate the election outcome, at least she wasn't running for office at the same time. But in Louisiana, election official Suzanne Haik Terrell (R) is not only running for office, but also calling the shots on elections and scooping up a cool half-million dollars for TV ads from the NRSC. Republican Governor Mike Foster (R) was even considering throwing his hat into the shark ring himself, as a way to try to skew the election even further because in LA, if you can reduce the percentage of votes going to each candidate so no one gets 50%, you can force a runoff. So, Foster would have been a 1) Senate candidate, 2) governor, and 3) top election official in the state of LA (see http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/newsstory/vote02.html). Why is it the GOP has to resort to tricks and deceptions, court cases, and election machinery manipulation to win?

A New Primer on Stolen Election 2000
01-Oct-02
Stolen Election 2000

Tammy Ballard writes, "I have put together a primer about the stolen election. It is a compilation of excerpts from articles dealing with the subject from 12-12-2000 right up to now. My primer does not just expose the purge, or the illegal absentee ballots that were counted, or the mob, rather it exposes all of the above in one little manual and then some. My belief is that the electorate must know how the last election was hijacked in order to make an informed vote at the polls. It may even encourage some nonvoters to vote. I have written it in such a way as to encourage the reader to use the internet as a news alternative." (Note: this is a LARGE file - please be patient)

Registered Democrats in Arizona have been receiving a recorded phone message: "This is Sarah Phillips. Two years ago I gave my baby up for adoption. A month ago, I found out my baby was adopted by a homosexual couple. I went back to DES [the Department of Economic Security] to demand my baby back, but I was told Attorney General Janet Napolitano [the Democratic candidate for governor] is pro gay adoptions. That I have no rights as a mother. That's not fair. I don't think Janet Napolitano should push her gay rights agenda on innocent people, especially children. That's why I'm calling you." According to DES, the story is completely false; they have no record of dealings with "Sarah Phillips", and the agency doesn't even handle voluntary adoptions. This is just another Big Lie by an anonymous group supporting Republican Matt Salmon. Tell Salmon to PERSONALLY denounce the smear campaign - 602.527.MATT or Info@SalmonforGovernor.com

Hiding the Losses - The Bush/Enron Way
18-Sep-02
Abuses of Power

"Close a bigger deal. Hide the loss before the 1Q." -- Thomas White, now Secretary of the Army (in a February 2001 e-mail, while Vice President to Enron Energy Services). Bridget Gibson writes, "Since November 7, 2000, the losses have been piling up" - from the Stolen Election, to the Bush Administration's failures before and after 9-11, to the massive increase in our national debt. "I'm sure that Kenny Boy and Dick and George and Tom could arrange with some of the creative accountants from Arthur Anderson that have been laid off to find a way to hide some of their nefarious dealings, but there will be no way to hide losses like these."

"Unprecedented" is the riveting story of the battle for the Presidency in Florida and the undermining of democracy in America by filmakers Richard Ray Perez and Joan Sekler. It paints a disturbing picture of an election marred by electoral injustices, sinister voter purges, and suspicious irregularities. Special guest speaker Greg Palast, author of "The Best Democracy Money Will Buy" is making personal appearances at the screenings. Hear Greg on webcast live on Tuesday, September 17, at 1:30 EST on "Radioactivity with Rob Lorei" from www.wmnf.org/

Why We Oppose George Bush's Iraq War
12-Sep-02
Iraq

"Mr. Bush, let me quote some words of your own. These are not words from a distant past, or even before 9-11. These are the words you spoke just last night, looking straight into the camera, speaking to the people of America and the world, pretending to tell the truth: 'Our deepest national conviction is that every life is precious, because every life is the gift of a creator who intended us to live in liberty and equality. More than anything else, this separates us from the enemy we fight. We value every life; our enemies value none - not even the innocent; not even their own.' Mr. Bush, we know you did not write those words. But you read them. And their meaning is so utterly clear that even you can understand what they mean: Mr. Bush, your words mean killing is wrong. And since war is nothing but organized killing, war is wrong." So declared Bob Fertik in his speech at the United Nations on September 12.

AP Corrects One Lie About Gore's Victory in Florida, But Then Manufactures a New Lie
08-Sep-02
Stolen Election 2000

On 9-3-02, Democrats.com challenged an AP story which said the media recounts showed Bush winning Florida. Thanks to YOUR complaints, the AP published a rare correction: "The story should also have noted that some scenarios showed Gore coming out ahead." But then the AP undercut its correction with this nonsense: "Gore would have finished ahead by the barest of margins had he pursued and gained a complete statewide recount." As everyone but the AP knows, the Florida Supreme Court ORDERED a statewide count of uncounted votes on 12-9-00 (as required by Florida election law), and workers assembled at county offices around the state and began counting - until the Felonious Five on the US Supreme Court ordered a halt to the count because they knew Al Gore would beat their fellow Republican - which the media recount proved. Once again, E-mail feedback@ap.org and tell the AP to stop its Orwellian rewrite of history!

Amy Gardner writes: "Four Wake County Democrats filed a complaint... with the Federal Election Commission over a Wal-Mart publication sent to 200,000 North Carolina homes with Republican U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Dole on the cover. The complaint, filed against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Dole's Senate campaign, alleges that the mailing is an illegal campaign contribution because it 'spread Elizabeth Dole's campaign image around the state.' 'The timing - less than two weeks before the primary election - was clearly a blatant attempt by the nation's largest corporation to influence North Carolina's election,' the complaint said'... Wal-Mart officials reiterated... that the magazine was not intended to boost Dole's campaign... The Sam's Club executive ultimately responsible for the magazine did not know Dole was a candidate." Yeah, right.

Setting the Record Straight on the Stolen Election
04-Sep-02
Stolen Election 2000

Professor Lance deHaven-Smith writes, "Q: Did Florida officials faithfully execute the state's election laws? A: No. The NY Times and The Washington Post discovered evidence that Florida's governor, secretary of state, and speaker of the House, all Republicans with close ties to George W. Bush, used their offices to manipulate the election controversy and secure Bush's victory. During the controversy, they collaborated ... with the legal and political advisers of George W. Bush to: (1) put pressure on the state's top law firms not to work for Gore; (2) bend the rules on absentee ballots to allow improperly marked absentee ballots to be counted; (3) block, stall or discredit manual recounts; and (4) create fears of a constitutional crisis so that the U.S. Supreme Court would intervene. Q: Will changes to state election laws that were enacted in 2001 prevent the same problems from recurring? A: No. In fact, the badly named Florida Election Reform Act is in many respects a step backward."

Catherine Wilson writes for the AP: "The NAACP's lawsuit over Florida's disputed 2000 presidential election appears headed for a close as the state and two counties the only remaining defendants have agreed to a settlement…Joe Klock, an attorney for the state, told U.S. District Judge Alan Gold that all parties promised to file final papers by Friday for approval. Attorneys would not discuss terms of the settlement. The class-action lawsuit filed by the [NAACP] and other civil rights groups argued voters were disenfranchised during the on Nov. 7, 2000 election; it included allegations that blacks were kept from voting in some counties…Provisions of those settlements included sweeping modifications to voter registration, voter-roll maintenance and polling practices. They also required counties to improve election day communications between precincts and election headquarters and in some cases guaranteed foreign language-speaking workers would be at the polls to assist voters."

"Lawyers representing Florida's black voters in a federal voting rights lawsuit arising from the bitterly contested 2000 president election may be close to settling the case with the Florida secretary of state, two other state agencies and the election supervisors of Orange and Hillsborough counties... The plaintiffs seek a range of remedies to ensure registered black voters are not prevented from voting in the future," but did not seek punishment for the crimes committed by Katherine Harris, Jeb Bush et al in 2000. "The lawsuit claims that there were a disproportionate number of ballots in black precincts without votes counted for the presidential election. It also claims that black voters were wrongfully purged from the official lists of eligible voters, voter registration applications of black voters were not processed properly, and registered black voters encountered unjustified barriers to voting at their precincts."

Many in the black community in Maryland are infuriated by the discovery that the African-American running mate of gubernatoral candidate Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. may have been bribed by an attractive "consulting fee" to run on Ehrlich's ticket as a "figure head" black (Maryland has a very large African-American population). It is alleged that Maryland GOP induced Michael S. Steele to run in exchange for a $5,000 per month "consulting fee." The evidence is pretty darn damning - the GOP began paying Steele the fees right after his candidacy was confirmed. "It looks to me like they've hired themselves a candidate," said David Paulson, a spokesman for the state Democratic Party. As we have been saying of late - the GOP doesn't seem to be able to do ANYTHING honestly - or without waving cash - these days.

GOP Spends $1 Million to Study How Gore WON
07-Aug-02
Stolen Election 2000

USNews reports, "The RNC has spent nearly $1 million to find out what Gore did right and the Republicans did wrong in 2000. 'The weekend before the 2000 election we had a pretty good feeling,' Hazelwood says. 'Then Election Day happened, and it was, 'Oh, my gosh, what happened?' ' The Republicans were shocked by what the Democrats have since forgotten: Gore, as 'horrendous' as he was, garnered 543,000 more votes than George W. Bush. It wasn't supposed to be that way, not according to the polls. So the Republicans studied the last 72 hours of the election and came to one overall conclusion. 'The Democrats have a better voter turnout operation than we do,' Hazelwood says. The Republicans had, over the years, become victims of their own success... The Democrats were left with bodies, especially the bodies of labor union volunteers going door to door. 'The Republicans have the technology,' says Donna Brazile, Gore's campaign manager... 'We do knock-and-drag, and they do right-click.'""

Jeb Disenfranchised MORE Non-Felons
06-Aug-02
Stolen Election 2000

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports: "The Florida Department of Corrections is investigating an error that may have disenfranchised a number of eligible voters in four counties in the past four years. A handful of probation officers in Broward, Monroe, St. Johns and Orange counties relied on an unofficial document to instruct offenders on probation that they've lost certain civil rights, even if the offenders had their adjudication withheld as part of a plea agreement. That instruction was false... The error incensed local political and community leaders still sensitive to the issue of disenfranchised voters... At this point it remains unknown whether the 44 probation officers gave the wrong information to enough offenders before the 2000 election to have influenced its outcome.'" Just one more reason to defeat Jeb Bush!

During the Florida recount, Bush "put on the payroll about 250 staffers, spent about $1.2 million to fly operatives to Florida and elsewhere, and paid for hotel bills adding up to about $1 million... The Miami [rioters] who were paid by Bush recount committee were: Matt Schlapp, a Bush staffer who was based in Austin and received $4,276.09; Thomas Pyle, a staff aide to House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, $456; Michael Murphy, a DeLay fund-raiser, $935.12; Garry Malphrus, House majority chief counsel to the House Judiciary subcommittee on criminal justice, $330; Charles Royal, a legislative aide to Rep. Jim DeMint, R-S.C. $391.80; and Kevin Smith, a former GOP House staffer, $373.23... Bush’s operation paid for the hotel where the Republican protesters celebrated after the Miami riot at a Thanksgiving Day party. At the party, the activists received thank-you phone calls from Bush and Cheney, and were serenaded by crooner Wayne Newton, singing 'Danke Schoen,' German for thank-you very much."

The AP reports "A federal judge has rejected state attempts to avoid trial over presidential election problems that kept blacks from voting in Florida. The state asked for a summary judgment to kill the lawsuit by the NAACP and other civil rights groups without a trial. But U.S. District Judge Alan Gold ruled Wednesday that they had met the standard for pursuing their lawsuit."

The Media Stole Election 2000 - And Is Now Scrubbing Its Own Guilt
02-Aug-02
Stolen Election 2000

When it comes to All Things Gore, no one demolishes the lies and myths better than Bob Somerby of the Daily Howler. In this typically brilliant column, Somerby analyzes the brand new myth of Gore's "self-created demon" - that "Gore was so angry at Clinton that he weirdly refused to do the thing which would have won him the race," namely take credit for the successes of the Clinton-Gore administration. As Somerby points out, this new myth - "Official Press Corps Story #2" - completely contradicts "Official Press Corps Story #1," that "Al Gore will do and say anything to win." Somerby then perfectly describes how the pundits and the voters all believed that Gore WON the first debate, until Karl Rove conspired with right-winger reporters like Frank Bruni to concoct the Big Lie that Al Gore treated Bush with contempt, as manifested by The Sigh. You go, Bob!

George Orwell Bush IS Big Brother
01-Aug-02
Bush Dictatorship

Daniel Kurtzman writes, "As Bush wages his war against terrorism and moves to create a huge homeland security apparatus, he appears to be borrowing heavily, if not ripping off ideas outright, from George Orwell['s] '1984', the prophetic novel about a government that controls the masses by spreading propaganda, cracking down on subversive thought and altering history to suit its needs. It was intended to be read as a warning about the evils of totalitarianism -- not a how-to manual [but] some of the similarities are starting to get a bit eerie." He documents the parallels: Permanent War, Ministry of Truth, Infallible Leader, Big Brother is Watching, and Thought Police. He asks, "What would it take to turn America into the kind of society that Orwell warned about, a society that envisions war as peace, freedom as slavery and ignorance as strength?" Just a Stolen Election, a Republican Supreme Court, a Republican media - and a Republican Congress. Stop Dictatorship - Vote Democratic!

"Nearly $14 million magically poured into the Bush/Cheney Florida recount effort - four times the amount raised by the Gore/Lieberman camp. The money flowed in so fast... that Bush campaign officials... were dumbfounded... The Bush campaign took in $13.8 million, most in large contributions. Listed among those large contributors were Bush and Cheney's two most reliable genies - Enron and Halliburton... As soon as a recount was announced, Bush forces moved quickly. Money was no object. They dispatched over 100 lawyers to Florida and Texas, booking hundreds of plane tickets, rental cars and hotel rooms. Among the expenditures listed was a payment of $13,000 to Enron Corp. and $2,400 to Halliburton Co. for the use of their corporate jets and other unspecified services. 'Eighteen months after the election, we find that the (Bush) administration literally flew into office on the Enron corporate jet,'" said the DNC. All the Bush scandals are coming together - Impeach Bush Now!

Bush's Florida Election Stealers Got TOP Jobs in the Most Corrupt Administration in History
15-Jul-02
Stolen Election 2000

During the Florida recount, "John Bolton, [now] undersecretary of state for arms control, [burst] into a Tallahassee library on behalf of the Bush-Cheney campaign to stop a recount of Miami-Dade County ballots. Matt Schlapp, a former congressional aide, is currently White House special assistant to the president and deputy director of political affairs. In November 2000, he was part of the supposedly spontaneous window-pounding protest at Miami-Dade County Hall that brought to an end the first recount of Miami-Dade ballots. Sue Cobb, a Coral Gables developer, today is the U.S. ambassador to Jamaica. Twenty months ago, the generous Republican donor volunteered... as part of the legal team that contested recounts in Miami-Dade. [These three] are among more than 50 political appointees found by The [Miami] Herald to have served as troops in the frantic Florida recount battle that followed the Nov. 7, 2000 election." Impeach Bush Now!

'Counting on Democracy' Documentary on Florida Debacle Will Debut on Public Television
14-Jul-02
Stolen Election 2000

"Restoring confidence in the electoral process means looking first at Florida. That's what Faye Anderson has done as producer of Counting on Democracy. Her documentary about the Florida presidential election is to air soon on public television... Ms. Anderson, a New York-based writer and former national vice chairman of the Republican National Committee's New Majority Council, notes that... the problem of equal access to the polling place is an American problem... That's part of the reason she says her feature-length 'untold story of the Florida presidential election,' narrated by Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, is not a rehash of the election debacle. 'Instead, it provides the context, analysis -- and voices -- that were missing from most media accounts.'"

Republican Party Engages in Corporate Fraud by Lying to the Elderly
10-Jul-02
Stolen Election 2002

If Bush is genuinely opposed to corporate fraud, here is one corporate fraud that Bush can stop immediately by picking up the phone and calling Marc Racicot at the Republican National Committee. Republican telemarketers are preying on the elderly by promising their contributions will be used for one purpose - defeating Gov. Gray Davis (D-CA) - when in fact the money is going to Bush! And they bury the truth in fine print that the elderly cannot read! Call Bush (202-456-1414) and Racicot (202-863-8500) and demand an end to this corporate fraud.

The lawsuit filed by the NAACP and other civil rights organizations against Florida for the widespread disenfranchisement of minority voters goes to trial August 26 - right before Florida's fall primaries. It'll be fun to once again watch Katherine Harris squirm on the stand, as she did in front of the Civil Rights Commission, practicing her Marie Antoinette-style form of plausible deniability. The only thing missing will be watching Jeb, the architect of the election theft, do the same. Winning the award for most delusional liar in a supporting role, a spokesperson for Katherine Harris is quoted in the Miami Herald as saying, "We remain confident that Florida's national leadership in election reform will be vindicated in the ultimate outcome." We hope Jeb and Katherine's brand of "election reform" - a thoroughly appalling way to define denying people their right to vote - gets VILIFIED, not vindicated, as it deserves to be!

At Democrats.com, we're proud to declare that we will NEVER "get over" Stolen Election 2000. And how can we? Apart from the fact that the 2000 election was the biggest crime against Democracy and our Constitution in history, we have a completely practical reason: If we let them steal one election, what will stop them from stealing EVERY election? We have "kept anger alive" despite the belief by Democratic Party leaders that we should "get over it." But even Karl Rove agrees with us that anger over Election 2000 could be the motivating force for a huge turnout by Democrats in 2002, which could sweep Republicans out of power. Here is the last slide in Rove's now-famous PowerPoint (click on the very last slide). "Rep. Charles Rangel (D-Harlem) drew cheers when he hailed Clinton as 'the last elected president of the U.S.' and said, 'It is our job to say we're not getting over Florida.'" Hey Democratic leaders, are you listening?

Democrats.com Letter to the United States Commission on Civil Rights Regarding the 2000 Presidential Election in Florida
18-Jun-02
Stolen Election 2000

Writes Nancy Kuhn: "The purpose of this letter is to bring to the attention of this commission an outline of the very extensive and strong evidence that Democrats.com is compiling in our extensive investigation of the 2000 Presidential election in Florida and to relate this evidence to the issues outlined in the commission's press release that announced this 6/20/02 hearing in Miami."

The Kalamazoo Gazette reports, "Seven questionable Democratic state Senate candidates, including Comstock resident Randall Smith, have been pulled from the primary elections ballot, state officials said Thursday. The candidates in question all requested to have their names withdrawn after an inquiry by the secretary of state, asking whether they had been approached to run by GOP officials, as Democrats allege... The secretary of state did not investigate the GOP notaries, and has no plans to do so, officials said. 'The question here surrounded whether the candidates should be certified to the ballot,' said spokeswoman Liz Boyd. 'This matter is closed, and we have no plans to pursue this in any other way.'" Case closed, just like that? No way! Attorney General Jennifer Granholm (D) must prosecute this fraud by taxpayer-funded state employees - including licensed notaries! Call 517-373-1110 or email miag@michigan.gov.

The Massachusetts Constitution requires a governor to be a resident of the state for each of the seven years preceding the election. But in 1999 and 2000, GOP gubernatorial candidate Mitt Romney filed resident tax returns in UT, not MA. In addition, from 1999-2001, Romney received a $54,000 tax break on his $3.8 million Park City, Utah, home because it was classified as his "primary residence." It's an open-and-shut case, right? WRONG! The issue gets decided by a five-member Ballot Law Commission. On Thursday, GOP Gov. Jane Swift filled two vacancies on the five-member panel with Republicans. Wanna bet how they will vote on this question? Just like Florida, the MA Republicans are using the power of the governor to abuse the law for partisan political purposes. Impeach Jane Swift - and defeat ALL Republicans!

BuzzFlash Interviews Greg Palast
06-Jun-02
Stolen Election 2000

"Greg Palast: I just got a letter from Katherine Harris - Cruella herself. Maybe she read my book right?.... I want to make sure we have all her titles correct. She's not just the Secretary of State. Let's not forget that she was campaign chairwoman for the Bush for President Campaign. She's never complained that there might be a bit of bias in how she handled the purging of the Florida voter registration rolls which she was in charge of. Katherine Harris wrote that 'Mr. Palast erroneously claims that my predecessor and I removed lawful voters from the Florida registration rolls when in fact, the legislature mandated that we remove these people.' Well, yes, but Katherine Harris wrote the law, and she implemented it. The law says remove ex-felons. It doesn't say to remove a bunch of innocent black people. Excuse me -- read the law again. It says ex-felons, not people who are innocent, but may vote for Al Gore."

Tom Edsall writes, "Key Democratic senators contended yesterday that the Justice Department did not address the most politically sensitive issues in the 2000 presidential election in Florida, particularly allegations of illegal purges of voter lists and the denial of voting rights to minorities... The Democrats' complaints were prompted by a [letter to Pat Leahy from Ralph Boyd, the assistant AG] for civil rights. Boyd wrote that there were 'very few voters who actually were prevented from voting' in Florida. [The Justice Department charges do not involve Katherine Harris, whom many civil rights leaders and Democrats accused of encouraging voting-rights denials, by hiring a firm that produced a controversial list of voters to be purged]. 'This investigation seems to be more about wallpapering over the troubling records of [Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris] than it is about seriously addressing what happened in Florida,' said Jenny Backus, [Gore's spokeswoman] during the Florida recount."

"Senate Democrats on Thursday asked AG John Ashcroft to explain why the Justice Dept chose not to file lawsuits in nine cases it was investigating for possible voting rights violations. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and four other Democrats requested in a letter that Ashcroft supply them with the jurisdictions involved, the violations alleged and the reasons for closing the nine cases… Senate aides said those writing the letter - including Democrats Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, Bill Nelson and Bob Graham of Florida, and John Edwards of North Carolina - want to know how many of the cases are in Florida. Disputes over the election outcome and numerous claims of voting rights violations in Florida…'I am deeply concerned that the department apparently has chosen not to address the critical issues in Florida: the widespread purges of voters and the poor voting equipment that heavily affected African-American communities,' Edwards said." You go, Democrats!

Greg Palast's continuing reports on the Florida felon purge "are devastating: disclosing e-mails and internal Florida state documents indicating that Harris' office KNEW the purge swept away the civil rights of innocents - and changed the outcome of the election. Counsel for the US Civil Rights Commission has said that Palast's reports provided, "The first hard evidence of systematic violation of civil rights.... Palast says, 'The US Justice Department's suit is a sham - the beneficiaries of the voting disaster, Bush's agencies, have figured out a way to do the least possible political damage to candidates Katherine Harris and Jeb Bush. They have aimed their fire at blameless county officials when the disaster was created in Tallahassee - a disaster for Black voters, though a blessing to the highly partisan Secretary of State's office. I fear this is an attempt to undercut the suit by the NAACP against Harris and others more directly responsible.'"

After receiving 11,000 complaints from Florida voters, Ashcroft's Justice Dept sent a letter to Congress with its conclusion: "The Civil Rights Division found no credible evidence in our investigations that Floridians were intentionally denied their right to vote during the November 2000 election," according to Asst AG Ralph Boyd. That is PURE BUSHIT! Even worse are the headlines on CNN (Florida voting rights not denied, Justice finds), the NY Times (DOJ: Floridians Weren't Denied Vote), and the Washington Post (Report: No Intentional Rights Denial). What about the 8,000 Floridians who were scrubbed from the voter rolls in the fraudulent felon purge, and could not cast a vote? What about the 175,000 voters whose votes were never counted because of the Supreme Court? What about the DOZENS of crimes committed by Florida election officials (see http://democrats.com/floridagate ) ?? We demand hearings on the Justice Dept's coverup of Stolen Election 2000 by the Senate Judiciary Committee!

Marie Cocco writes, "The Justice Department says it plans to file suit against three Florida counties for voting-rights violations [in the 2000 election debacle]. None involves the mayhem created by machines that couldn't read votes properly...None involves the infamous statewide purge of alleged felons from the rolls - a purge so flawed [that even county officials were purged as felons]. None of this figures in the Justice Department's Florida effort, though...Last year, when the U.S. Civil Rights Commission found widespread disenfranchisement of African-Americans and other minorities in the Florida vote, the report was dismissed as partisan hogwash by the [Republicans on the panel]. Meanwhile, a broad voting-rights lawsuit brought by the NAACP [that charges Katherine Harris with disenfranchising] thousands of African-Americans in Florida moves forward...Justice is slowly being served, despite the Department of Justice."

America Needs a 'Truth Commission' to Reveal the Truth About Historical Lies
26-May-02
September 11 Investigation

According to Presidential historian Michael Beschloss, past Blue Ribbion Commissions have failed to expose the whole truth. FDR did not tell the Pearl Harbor commission that the US had broken Japanese intelligence codes, which provided advance warning of the attack. Eisenhower's Secretary of State lied to Congress about Eisenhower's personal approval of every U-2 flight. The CIA's plan to assassinate Fidel Castro during the Bay of Pigs fiasco was never disclosed, hindering the Warren Commission's investigation of the assassination of JFK - along with J. Edgar Hoover's scrubbing of crucial FBI documents. And the Iran-Contra investigation was a pathetic failure, which led directly to the Stolen Election of 2000 by the Iran-contra criminals. It's time for a "Truth Commission" to reveal the truth about all of these historical lies.

Michigan "State Sen. Kenneth Sikkema, chairman of the Senate Republican Campaign Committee, said he takes 'full responsibility' for the actions of the four staffers, who signed the affidavits of identity for candidates in eight Senate seats to pose as primary opponents to more established Democratic candidates. 'I'm trying to track it down and sort out the who, what, where and why of all this,' said Sikkema... 'Without knowing all the facts, it does appear to be what could be called overzealous actions on the part of Republican staff people, which was inappropriate'... He said he did not know whether the staffers acted on their own or who might have asked them to recruit the candidates. They are employed by two state senators and the state Republican party... Sikkema said he doubted he would take action against the staffers, even though Democrats say they may have committed crimes." These are PUBLIC employees using OUR tax dollars to commit crimes - we DEMAND prosecution!!

American Election Law Emphatically Supports the 'Intent of the Voter' and Recounts
25-May-02
Stolen Election 2000

"The public [has been] bamboozled about American election law, by bogus pseudo-legal arguments relentlessly reprinted in newspapers and aired on television... Regarding elections, the numerous pages of Volume 29 of the C.J.S. make one central principle clear: in this country, the law is usually on the side of the voter, including the voter who makes a mistake. The principle that the voter's intent is paramount, in counting votes, is restated at least ten times, in language accessible to every citizen, with scores of legal cases as examples. As a corollary to this central principle... the volume on 'Elections' also includes a further section of twenty pages on 'Recounts.' Hardly surprising: as both law and common sense dictate, and the C.J.S. explicitly states, elections, to be valid, must include provision for recounts. Any valid election process - like any valid judicial process - must include provisions for (1) recording, and (2) checking the record." So writes Margie Burns.

The Record of Stockton CA reports, "Evelyn Miramontes said she had a feeling something wasn't quite right but signed her name anyway. Carmen Rojas doesn't know when or where it happened. And John McCauther, son of a former mayor of Atwater and godson of congressional candidate Dennis Cardoza, said he just wasn't paying attention. All three said they were yanked off the Democratic voter rolls and registered as Republicans against their will. Speaking at a news conference arranged by Democratic congressional candidate Dennis Cardoza, they all blamed paid signature gatherers who didn't make it clear they were changing their party affiliation when signing forms in public places... At issue are the methods of paid signature gatherers, who allegedly went to extreme measures to collect a bounty of as much as $8 per person who registered as a Republican as part of a GOP-backed registration drive. The allegations are under investigation by the Secretary of State's Office." More GOP crimes!

St. Pete Times reports, "After an 18-month investigation, nearly 11,000 complaints, discussions with AG Bob Butterworth's office and even a review of the NAACP's complaint logs, the federal government has determined that only certain minority voters were wronged. They were Hispanics in Orange and Osceola counties and Haitians in Miami-Dade. Not a single word from Justice about Katherine Harris' flawed purged voter list [or] the high number of discarded 'overvotes' in areas with high concentrations of black voters, such as Jacksonville... 'It doesn't pass the smell test,' says state Democratic chairman Bob Poe. 'What is their political agenda? To make inroads and score points with non-Cuban Hispanics and Haitians.' Poe said he would contact members of the Senate Judiciary Committee... and urge them to probe deeper into the Justice Department's legal strategy in FL. [And] the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights announced it would come back to Florida June 20 for a daylong hearing in Miami."

The Republicans - led by Jeb Bush, Katherine Harris, and Clay Roberts - stole the Florida election by disenfranchising thousands of African-American voters. Their primary tool was the intentionally fraudulent "felon" purge, in which African-Americans were disproportionately included. It was a "high-tech lynching," to quote Supreme Injustice Clarence Thomas (from the Anita Hill hearings), a 21st-century version of Jim Crow laws that disenfranchised Florida's black voters for a century after Reconstruction. The Justice Dept. recently announced legal action against 3 Florida counties, but 2 of those - Miami-Dade and Osceola - focus on language problems facing immigrants. If there is NO JUSTICE over the felon purge - including CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS - there will be NO PEACE - at least from Democrats.com!

Car mechanic Randall "Smith's candidacy is one of eight cited by Michigan Democrats in an elections complaint alleging that Republicans urged unknown candidates to run last-minute campaigns against Democratic incumbents in the Aug. 6 primary. A possible motive, Democrats say: In the cases of a contested primary election, campaign-finance laws limit party funds for preferred candidates. At a press conference Wednesday, local leaders of the Democratic party denounced what they called a 'diabolical' Republican scheme to interfere with the upcoming Democratic primary elections. 'Filing a false affidavit is not politics as usual. It's a crime,' Kalamazoo County Democratic Chairman Curtis Bell said... Smith's affidavit was notarized by Michael J. Gallagher, a member of the staff of Senate Majority Leader Dan L. DeGrow, R-Port Huron. Other affidavits questioned were also witnessed by notaries with Republican ties." Throw them ALL in jail for criminal conspiracy!

Eric "Visger, 18, of Cedar Creek Township [Michigan], claims he was tricked into filing as a Democratic candidate for the 34th District State Senate seat by a group of Republicans he did not know. He said they contacted him by telephone, then met him in Muskegon County and convinced him to fill out forms to run for the office. Visger, who has volunteered for local Republican campaigns, said he was led to believe he would be running as a Republican. He said the people took his forms and filed them in Lansing on his behalf. He said he was stunned when he later opened a newspaper and found his name listed as a Democratic candidate." Visger's papers were forged by Republican staffers Michael Severino (a notary) and someone named "Pete" - both PUBLIC employees. It's time for some lawyers to file a RICO suit against the Republican organized crime family!

Democrats are Waking Up to Ashcroft's Cover-up of the Stolen Election
23-May-02
Stolen Election 2000

On the "morning after" the Justice Dept announced vague plans to maybe someday sue 3 Florida counties for election 2000 voter disenfranchisement, Democrats woke up feeling used. According to Salon, "Florida Democratic Party spokesman Ryan Banfill warned that the lawsuits may be little more than 'window dressing to provide some political cover for the president and his brother,' Jeb, who is running for reelection as Florida governor this year... 'I saw yesterday they mentioned voter purges. Well, that means they should be looking at [Secretary of State] Katherine Harris. But the fact that her office is not part of this suit makes us think this may not go as far as it should. If they're talking about voter purges, they should be talking about a lot more than three counties,' Banfill said." EXACTLY - and they should be talking about CRIMINAL PROSECUTION of Jeb, Katherine, and Clay Roberts.

Damien Cave and Anthony York write that on 12/4/00, "Salon broke the story [written by Greg Palast] of how Florida contracted with a private firm to purge its voter rolls of felons and other people ineligible to vote, but in the process used faulty information to cast thousands of eligible registered voters off the rolls as well. The voter purge hit minorities particularly hard in Florida, where 31% of all black men are denied the right to vote due to the ban on felons voting. [The U.S. Civil Rights Commission] picked up the Salon investigation in its own report on Florida's 2000 voting woes, which concluded that minority voters rights had been violated... Salon talked to some of the people involved in voting rights cases... to get their reaction to Tuesday's announcement." Unfortunately, not ONE of the people interviewed points out that the intentionally fraudulent purge was a CRIME, and that the architects of the purge belong in JAIL, and the beneficiary - Bush - should be IMPEACHED!

Washington Post's Tom Edsall reports, "The Justice Department disclosed yesterday it will file suit in three Florida counties charging voting rights violations in the 2000 presidential election... [They] expect the counties and municipalities to admit wrongdoing and agree to take steps to prevent recurrences of problems in the 2002 elections... Boyd said the allegations include improper purges of voter rolls, 'disparate' treatment of minorities in the voting process, failures to provide required voter registration material in certain public places and inaccessible balloting for disabled voters. Boyd's announcement is the first formal action taken by the Bush administration to deal with the politically explosive controversies that surrounded the 2000 election in Florida. The suits would not seek to overturn the presidential election's results, which ultimately were decided by the U.S. Supreme Court." 41,000 Ex-Felons are still prevented from voting by Jeb's machine.

SMOKING GUN: The Evidence that May Hang G. W. Bush - Part I : A Preliminary Hearing in the Court of Common Sense
20-May-02
September 11 Exposes

At the VERY LEAST, Bush allowed 9/11 to happen. But the evidence indicates his guilt involves more than just a huge sin of omission – this now seems certain. So it is ulcer-forming to watch him, Cheney, Condoleezza Rice and their PR army try to sell America yet another Big Lie - that they had no idea such a thing as 9/11 could happen... they could never have imagined it in their wildest dreams... they had no specific warnings... there was nothing unusual about the summer 2001 warnings, etc. etc. ad nauseum. In a three-part series, we present material that clearly shows that the above litany is blatantly, arrogantly false. In part one, we hold a preliminary "hearing" in the "Court of Common Sense"...

Just How Did Bush Get Into Position to be Asleep at the 9-11 Switch?
19-May-02
Stolen Election 2000

Eric Alterman writes in The Nation, "How in the world did George W. Bush ever get close enough to invite [the right wing] Supreme Court to give him his 'victory'? [Bush's] political views were well to the right of most voters on almost everything... By any conventional calculation, Bush should have lost in a landslide. [The answer] is that the so-called liberal media... failed to inform the public of the two candidates' political and ideological differences, and the implications those differences held for the nation's future. [The NY Times treatment of the election like a] junior high popularity contest signaled to the rest of the media that contentless coverage would be the order of the day. [The press followed] its campaign masters like a litter of newborn puppies. They wait open-mouthed for Karl Rove or Karen Hughes to drop a tender morsel of warmed-over baloney into their mouths, wagging their tails in appreciation after every feeding."

Bush Crony Capitalism Goes Global through the Carlyle Group
16-May-02
Carlyle Group

Tim Shorrock writes that, "William Conway, managing director and co-founder of the Carlyle Group, was talking recently about the media coverage of his bank and the cast of ex-Presidents and former officials, including George H.W. Bush, James Baker III and Frank Carlucci, on its payroll. 'One of the words that has recently cropped up as an adjective around us--and I love this adjective--is the 'secretive' Carlyle Group,' he said in an interview in his offices overlooking Pennsylvania Avenue in downtown Washington. 'What's the secret? I don't think we have many secrets. The reality is, we're a group of businessmen who have made an enormous amount of money for our investors [that included the bin Laden family until they had to divest right after 911, because 'it looked BAAAD' as BushDaddy would say] by making good investments over the past fifteen years.' " None better than the stolen election investment, eh William?

Tom Friedman Blames the Internet for Global Hate
13-May-02
media bias

NY Times columnist Tom Friedman starts his column with a valid complaint by a Muslim woman against Bill O'Reilly's uniformed, obnoxious bigotry and FOX's spin. He then goes on to say that the only reason there is unrest in Indonesia and elsewhere is because it is being fomented by people who get their information from the Internet. What nonsense! If the Internet is causing unrest, it is because it presents people with the upsetting realities that are suppressed by mainstream idiots like O'Reilly and Friedman - realities like stolen elections, systematic corporate exploitation of developing nations, CIA-engineered coups, etc.

King George II Bonds with the Kings of Asia
03-May-02
Stolen Election 2000

Michael Kinsley writes in Slate, "Is anyone else bothered even a little bit by the idea that the war on terrorism has somehow put the United States in the business of installing a king in Afghanistan? Reinstalling, actually... Doesn't our president [sic] understand that there are two different kinds of nations in the world? There are nations where the rulers are determined by heredity—where the person in charge is in charge for no better reason than that his or her father was in charge before him. Then there are nations where the rulers are determined by democracy—where the person in charge is in charge because he or she got the most votes in an election among the citizens. And in this great divide, the United States stands proudly on the side of …of …Oh, never mind." Hey Michael - you're close to the truth, but why don't you just come out and say that Bush stole the election?

Lest we forget, Pakistani "president" Pervez Musharraf seized power without any election in a 1999 coup, so he is not a legally elected leader. And the referendum held in Pakistan on 4/30 to "decide" if he should stay in power for five more years is unconstitutional because Pakistan elects its presidents through its parliament, which represents the people. Here's where Musharraf has taken a few pages from mentor Bush. To "legalize" the referendum, he simply got the Pakistani supreme court to declare it legal! ( http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_576749.html ) Next, he set up tens of thousands of polling places and personally arranged for the transport of voters to the polls (people who refused to allow their vehicles to be commandeered were beaten up). And, we bet, just like the Bush folks in Florida, he will make sure the results are what Musharraf - and Bush - want them to be. This is much worse than Zimbabwe, which Bush and the world condemned. So where is the outrage??

NPR's Juan Williams visited Jacksonville, FL, in the heart of Duval County, where 27,000 votes went uncounted on Election Day 2000. Of those, 16,000 (60%) were cast by blacks, who voted over 90% for Gore - more than enough to change the outcome of the election. But the Republican Supervisor of Elections, John Stafford, refused to tell black leaders about all the uncounted ballots until it was TOO LATE to file a challenge. Was there a conspiracy to spoil ballots cast by black voters? No one is seriously making that allegation. But was there a conspiracy to keep black leaders from finding out about the 27,000 uncounted ballots? Absolutely! John Stafford, like Katherine Harris, belongs in jail.

In the NY Observer, Joe Conason asks tough questions about Venezuela: "Who was killed in the violent street demonstrations of April 11? Who did the shooting? When did the State Department learn that a coup was imminent? What did our diplomats (and military attachés) say to the plotters? Why did the White House and the National Security Council ignore our treaty obligations to oppose the unlawful overthrow of an elected President?... There was something surreal about the official U.S. response to this chaotic situation, coming as it did from an administration that had actually lost the popular vote in the last election here and only attained power by judicial intervention. Of course, no one is supposed to dwell on the 2000 election and its disputed aftermath anymore, irresistible as such comparisons may be... Once again, the supposed masters of foreign policy serving Mr. Bush have displayed their own arrogance and incompetence." Right on, Joe!

Al Gore brought 2,500 delegates to their feet at the Florida Democratic convention, but that isn't good enough for the oh-so-jaded white male pundits. Bill Keller of the NY Times could barely wait a single paragraph before trashing Gore in the newspaper that STILL refuses to admit that AL GORE WON FLORIDA. Before the pundits start advising Al Gore and the Democrats, we have one simple demand - that they acknowledge that Gore won - both nationally and in Florida - and that Bush stole the Presidency. If they can't acknowledge that Democrats won the LAST election, why should we bother listening to their advice on how to win the NEXT one? Write billkeller@nytimes.com

What Katherine Harris SHOULD Have Said
19-Apr-02
Stolen Election 2000

Margie Burns writes in Buzzflash, "Here is what the Florida Secretary of State should have said, on November 10, 2000: 'As you also know by now, citizen reports and affidavits indicate that tens of thousands of ballots have been discarded as overvotes and undervotes, frustrating the will of the voters. The undervotes alone, caused by machine malfunctions that we have had before, could change the outcome of the election. As you also know, Florida election law calls for a manual recount where one is appropriately requested and could change the outcome. This state has recounted votes as recently as the last election. I call on all counties in Florida, declared for either candidate, immediately to begin a hand recount of disputed ballots where one is requested, in accordance with procedure mandated by state law, and to carry on the recount with all deliberate speed until it is completed.'" And if pigs had wings...

Just Like the US Stolen Election, Venezuela's Coup was 'A Media Coup'
15-Apr-02
Venezuela

The Times of London reports, "After a battle with Señor Chávez over press freedom in recent months, media owners leapt to back Friday's coup... In the few hours that a provisional government led by a businessman, Pedro Carmona, was in power, the top media barons were among the first to visit him at the presidential palace to offer support. 'It was a media coup,' said a disgusted María Lilibeth Da Corte, a veteran palace reporter for Unión Radio, who said her editors censored all negative reporting on the coup... One photographer heard other journalists being told by their bosses to 'forget being journalists for the next week, we're all working for the government now.'" That sounds exactly like the orders handed down on November 8, 2000 at FOX, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, the NY Times, and the Washington Post. It's time for Americans to rise up against the Bush/Media Coup - just like the Venezuelans!

Like many other progressive efforts, Jeanette Wallis suspended her cross-country "Walk for Democracy" from Seattle to DC on 9-11. But Wallis returned to the road on 4-1, picking up where she left off in Utah. "I've had to put my faith in people, that they would take care of me. I'm operating on the assumption that people are good." And that assumption has proven true for the most part. "Americans are so generous," Wallis noted. "Citizens can make a difference," she said. "Democracy is up to us. It doesn't exist without us." Wallis said that no cross country activist has ever seen the president after arriving in Washington, D.C. "That says a lot about our system," she concluded.

Greg Palast was on Politically Incorrect Monday. Palast has done groundbreaking investigative work into the criminal purge of voters from Florida's registry, Bush Family dirty deals and Bush officials spiking the FBI investigation of the bin Laden family last summer. Palast made some great points on Politically Incorrect, despite having to contend with Floyd Brown, a GOP operative who engineered the Willie Horton ads and various smears of Clinton. Like a typical Republican hypocrite, Brown leveled ad hominems at Palast as a "conspiracy kook", even though Brown himself was key in whipping up the Whitewater conspiracy theories that wasted $40 million in taxpayers money. Brown's operation also pushed the thoroughly discredited conspiracy theory that Clinton was responsible for the death of one of his law students. Meanwhile, Roshumba made inane statements playing down the election theft and commending the appointments of Condi Rice and Colin Powell. Can you say Clarence Thomas?

"The latest crime of the stolen 2000 Presidential election is blaming the victim of the stolen election - Al Gore - for the numerous illegal acts committed by the Bush campaign and its surrogates in their broad daylight theft of the Presidency. Both the evidence that Democrats.com has collected in its extensive investigation of the stolen election, and the election laws and procedures of the state of Florida, prove this 'blame the victim' attack to be totally wrong." So writes Nancy Kuhn.

In his BuzzFlash interview Michael Moore says, "The chapter that's received the most attention in the book - and I'm kind of surprised... - is the chapter "A Very American Coup"... We know all those facts about Florida and what Katherine Harris did, and the private firm that took African-Americans off the voting rolls and prohibited them from voting. But I've been surprised in this first week how many average Americans were not aware of all of the trickery and deceit that took place in the year before the election to fix it for George W. Bush. And if people read that - I mean, you should see some of the letters I've received - they have the sickest feeling in their gut... They cannot believe that the Bushes got away with this. And they're sick about it because they're Americans, because it goes against everything we believe in. Because they have people in their families who died for this country, for that very basic of rights, which is the right to vote and have your vote counted."

Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) has always been an outspoken fighter for truth and justice. Now she is bravely going where no other politicians dare to go - denouncing the Stolen Election of 2000 and asking hard questions about 9-11. "Now is the time for our elected officials to be held accountable. Now is the time for the media to be held accountable. Why aren't the hard questions being asked? We know there were numerous warnings of the events to come on September 11. Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, delivered one such warning. Those engaged in unusual stock trades immediately before September 11 knew enough to make millions of dollars from United and American airlines, certain insurance and brokerage firms' stocks. What did this Administration know, and when did it know it about the events of September 11? Who else knew and why did they not warn the innocent people of New York who were needlessly murdered?" Read this powerful statement!

NY Times Tries to Undercut Flight 93 Shootdown Theory, But It's The Only Theory Supported by the Evidence
27-Mar-02
September 11 Exposes

Karl Rove is using the NY Times to hide the truth about September 11, just as the Times lied for Bush about the Stolen Election. Rove gave the Times the official transcript of the cockpit voice recorder, along with Rove's official story. The Times is desperately trying to buttress the passenger-takeover theory, by claiming without evidence that "hijackers waggled the wings of the plane up and down in an effort to keep the passengers from moving forward" - which could also be explained by the plane's engine being shot off by a military jet. The Times also dismisses passenger Edward Felt's call to 911 reporting smoke and an explosion - also consistent with a shot-off engine. There is no doubt heroic passengers tried to storm the cockpit, but even the Times admits the tape offers no evidence they succeeded, or that the hijackers crashed the plane. Hijackers saying "They're coming" could mean US jets, as well as passengers. The evidence now points to a military shootdown, not a crash.

It has taken 495 days, but an American newspaper has FINALLY acknowledged that 8,000 or more voters were illegally disenfranchised in Florida. In an editorial entitled "Stolen Votes," the Concord (NH) Monitor writes: "No matter how successful George W. Bush proves to be as president, a pall will forever hang over the 2000 election. In national scrutiny of the way Americans cast and count their ballots, many states were found wanting. The chief among them was Florida, where the outcome, with the help of the U.S. Supreme Court, gave Bush his victory over Al Gore... Had thousands of voters not wrongly been turned away from the polls, the outcome in Florida probably would have been different and Gore, not Bush, would be in the White House. Most of the disenfranchised voters were black." The editorial cites Greg Palast's most recent article in Harpers Magazine. Send your letters of appreciation to letters@cmonitor.com

Ashcroft has NEVER released the results of his investigation into crimes committed in Florida in 2000 - and now he's putting the criminals in charge! "Of the two political operatives hired, one is a former employee of the Voting Integrity Project, which ran the disputed purging of Florida voter rolls of alleged felons during the 2000 election, and the other is a former senior counsel for the Center for Equal Opportunity, an organization that has been sharply critical of preferential affirmative action policies. They will be part of a voting-rights task force Ashcroft announced last year, to be headed by a political appointee... Civil Rights Assistant Attorney General Ralph F. Boyd Jr... acknowledged hiring Hans A. von Spakovsky, a former board member of the Voting Integrity Project, and Hugh Joseph Beard, former senior counsel for the Center for Equal Opportunity, as career lawyers in the voting rights section." We demand a Senate investigation!

The Stolen Election in Times Square
15-Mar-02
Stolen Election 2000

Under the headline "The Stolen Election in Zimbabwe," the NY Times denounced the "ugly travesty" of an election in Zimbabwe. Is there anyone on the planet who can read this editorial without being reminded of the Stolen Election in Florida - aided and abetted by the Times, compounded by the Big Lie headlines following the recounts that PROVED Gore Got More? Let's all write the Times asking that they show the courage of their "convictions" and tell George Bush to resign because of the "deeply flawed" election in Florida! And ask them to report the story they've completely buried: that Katharine Harris/Jeb Bush ordered the purge of ex-felons and people with names similar to felons - to reduce black votes. If the Times can agonize over Clinton taking gifts with him from the White House, they can break their silence on the Bushies stuffing votes in the trash. Let's flood them with letters - if they get several thousand, maybe they'll print one (letters@nytimes.com)

Bush Declares, 'We do not recognize the outcome of the election' - and Neither Do We!
14-Mar-02
Stolen Election 2000

At his press conference on 3-13-02, Bush was asked: "Do you officially recognize the Zimbabwe elections?" Here's Bush's reply: "Zimbabwe. We do not recognize the outcome of the election because we think it's flawed. And we are dealing with -- and we are dealing with our friends to figure out how to deal with this flawed election." Yes, the election in Zimbabwe was fatally flawed - just like Florida. And if the election in Zimbabwe should be overturned because of those fatal flaws, then so too should the election in the United States! We challenge one member of the Washington press corps to ask Bush how the Zimbabwe election was different from Florida - and why Bush has not resigned in recognition of the fact that he LOST Florida.

In Letters to the Editor, Americans Express their Anger over Bu$h and his Agenda
11-Mar-02
Democratic Voices

Ever since Usurpation Day (1-20-01), the corporate media has been brainwashing Americans into believing that Bush is God's right hand man on planet Earth - and all thinking Americans recognize this. Of course, we know that more than half of all Americans opposed Bush on Stolen Election Day (11-7-01), continued to oppose him on Usurpation Day, and only reluctantly accepted him as Commander-in-Thief on Attack on America Day - because we had no other choice.
The corporate media's polls don't measure the feelings of the "Silenced Majority" - but you can get a glimpse of these feelings in some remarkable letters to the editor, as collected by Maia Cowan on her "Voice of the People" page at FailureIsImpossible.com.

Democrats.com Chat with Greg Palast
09-Mar-02
Democrats.com Events

In an online chat with members of Democrats.community, investigative journalist Greg Palast shared his trademark humor - and some intriguing revelations as well. Palast discussed his new book, "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy." which covers the broad range of Palast's work. Topics include the Stolen Election (Palast uncovered Katherine Harris' Fraudulent Felon purge) ... Bush's interference with FBI efforts to trace Al Qaeda's roots in Saudi Arabia ... and Enron's criminal manipulation of California electricity prices. Palast's most dramatic revelation was that he has videotape proving that George W. Bush LOBBIED for Enron in 1988 - 6 years BEFORE he says he "really got to know" Bush! Stay tuned for an EXPLOSION when Greg reveals the videotape.

After 18 months of research, Greg Palast has obtained the "scrub list" that Katherine Harris and her predecessor sent to county officials to remove "felons." Highlighted examples include "David Butler," a name which appears 77 times in Florida phone books; Thomas Cooper, flagged for a conviction in 2007 (!); Rev. Willie Dixon, scrubbed despite a rare official pardon; and Johnny Jackson Jr., who never went to Texas but matched the name of a Texas felon; and Wallace McDonald, who was scrubbed for the misdemeanor of sleeping on a bus-stop bench in 1959. "Of the 'matches' on these lists, the civil-rights commission estimated that at least 14 percent - or 8,000 voters, nearly 15 times Bush's official margin of victory - were false." No corporate media outlet has ever reported on the felon purge - because it proves Jeb helped George steal Florida in a "high-tech" stolen election.

On 7-15-01, NY Times reporters David Barstow and Don Van Natta Jr. documented how the Bush campaign pressured numerous Florida counties to count illegal overseas military ballots. A thorough statistical analysis of this data estimates that Bush gained 286 votes as a result of this massive fraud. Without those 286 illegal votes, the Florida Supreme Court would have declared Gore the winner on 12-8-00, when it overruled Katherine Harris and accepted the results of partial recounts from Palm Beach and Miami-Dade and cut Bush's lead to 154. These 286 votes also put Gore over the top in most of the media recount scenarios.

Orwellian NY Times Denounces Orwellian Pentagon
20-Feb-02
media

The NY Times published a stinging attack on Pentagon propaganda: "Plans being developed by the Pentagon's Orwellian new Office of Strategic Influence call for planting false stories in the foreign press and running other covert activities to manipulate public opinion. Such a program would undermine rather than reinforce the government's broader efforts to build international support." That's all fine and good, but the NY Times is fully engaged in the propaganda business itself - hiding the truth about 9-11, pretending George W Bush is anything but Dick Cheney's puppet and a corporate tool, adamantly refusing to report on the demonstrations against EVERY appearance by Bush administration officials, and covering up the Stolen Election of 2000. The Times will NEVER have any credibility until it admits that AL GORE WON.

"Katherine Harris, Florida's former secretary of state, wanted a lawsuit against her thrown out, but a judge has decided to let the case go trial. The NAACP and four other groups filed suit against Harris (pictured), a former state election chief, and the county elections supervisor. The suit charges that black voters were disenfranchised during the 2000 presidential election." Thanks to all our members who turned out in support of the NAACP's suit!

President's Day is February 18. Since stealing the Presidency 13 months ago, George W. Bush has plunged the nation into permanent war, permanent debt, and permanent loss of our precious freedoms - unless Bush leaves the office he never won. Let's celebrate President's Day by urging George W. Bush to RESIGN and give Al Gore the office he truly won - sign the petition!

"The Bush administration is weighing whether to bring criminal charges against a French bank being defended by a prominent Washington lawyer who helped the president in the Florida recount." Attorney General Bill "Lockyer, a Democrat who is seeking re-election, sued the French bank, Credit Lyonnais, seeking $2 billion in damages, alleging that more than 300,000 policyholders were harmed by the bank's actions…Representing the financial institution is George Terwilliger, a former deputy attorney general in the first Bush administration and one of the legal strategists who helped George W. Bush during the Florida recount. More recently, Terwilliger was considered for the post of FBI director. He has been a vocal defender of the president's plan to use military tribunals in prosecuting the war on terrorism… In an interview Sunday, Terwilliger declined to say whether he has met with Justice Department officials about Credit Lyonnais."

"This critical lawsuit challenges voting irregularities that occurred in Florida during the November 2000 election. The lawsuit was brought on behalf of the NAACP and Black voters in the State of Florida On February 15, 2002, the defendants (Katherine Harris, State Elections Chief Clay Roberts and County Election Supervisors), will ask U.S. District Judge Alan S. Gold to dismiss the case. Fellow Floridians, we were ALL disenfranchised. Stand up by being there to support the efforts to make sure another election fiasco does not occur. Friday, February 15, 2002 - 9:30 A.M. U.S. District Courthouse 301 N. Miami 10th Floor, Courtroom 10 Miami, Florida. BE THERE! SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FLORIDA!! Or it WILL happen again!"

Bush Loses First Round in His Effort to Destroy the Civil Rights Commission
05-Feb-02
Civil Rights

"President [sic] Bush lost the first round in the legal fight to appoint a conservative lawyer to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. The Justice Department, however, promised to continue its efforts to get Cleveland attorney Peter Kirsanow on the commission." Bush wants to destroy the Civil Rights Commission because it blew the whistle on George & Jeb's systematic disenfranchisement of black voters to steal the Florida election. So while Bush lets election reform die, he wants to silence the most vocal critics of stolen elections. Guess who will make the final decision in this case? You guessed it - the Felonious Five.

Al Gore Unleashed!
03-Feb-02
Al Gore

"Last night, I went to see the 'Real President' Al Gore. Let me tell you, at first my friend Susan and I thought that we would be deeply disappointed, thinking that all we would hear tonight was a bunch of bull roar for Bush and his W-ar. But after hearing Al Gore speak tonight I came out feeling better than I have ever felt--even before the stolen election! Al Gore is back and he is fighting like I have never heard him before!!" So reports Nancy Lynn Nagy.

The Corporate Media Helped Bush Steal the Presidency, and Is Being Richly Rewarded
01-Feb-02
media bias

"In 2000, when Karl Rove called General Electric Chairman Jack Welch to guarantee that a Bush Administration would be extremely generous to media conglomerates that were sympathetic to the Texas governor's presidential campaign, it was a notable moment in history. If only this once, Rove wasn't lying. Since taking office, George W. Bush has lavished spectacular taxpayer funded largesse on the corporate media that made excuses for his inadequacies, overlooked his corruption, shielded him from scandal, and escorted him into the White House. It has been a squalid quid pro quo that has gone largely unexamined, because those whose job it is to report on such corruption are too busy benefiting from it." So writes David Podvin in his continuing series in MakeThemAccountable.com on the media's thoroughly corrupt role in the Stolen Election.

Neil Bush was last seen as a Director of the failed Silverado S&L, which cost taxpayers $1 BILLION - and earned Neil a "reprimand" from federal regulators. "What was Neil Bush doing in Jidda, Saudi Arabia, last week?... NEWSWEEK has learned the presidential sibling also had another agenda: recruiting Middle East investors for an educational-software firm that, industry sources say... Rivals say Bush's role in Ignite could help the firm cash in on a booming new market in 'digital learning'—in part due to a fresh infusion of funds for school districts from his brother's education bill. Ignite recently began marketing its first product—an American-history software program—to local school officials." We guarantee the Bush version of history will include no mention of Silverado, Iran-Contra, Funeralgate, the Stolen Election of 2000, or Enrongate!

Salon.com columnist John Dean writes, "Many observers believe that the 2000 presidential election story is over and dead. I don't. Rather, I think these events are going to return to haunt future elections, not to mention the Senate confirmation hearing of the next nominee to fill any vacancy on the United States Supreme Court. For example, after reading these books, I would not be surprised to discover that Enron's political largess was somehow involved in the Florida vote-counting debacle." OF COURSE Enron was involved in the stolen election in Florida. George Bu$h is the Enron (bogus)POTUS, and he's done his best to deliver -- including a $250 million Enron tax rebate, even though Enron paid no taxes!

The criminal Bush-Cheney administration took office one year ago on January 20. Fittingly, Bush was sworn into office by the Chief Injustice of the Supreme Court, William Rehnquist, symbolizing the takeover of the Presidency by our unelected Judiciary. If you're still angry about the Stolen Election of 2000 - and we just get angrier with every passing day! - then fly your flag upside down this week, to symbolize America's distress at the destruction of our Democracy.

Read 'We Will Not Get Over It: Restoring a Legitimate White House' - It's About All of US!
12-Jan-02
Stolen Election 2000

Finally! Here's a book about the pro-democracy movement that arose following the Theft of the Presidency by George W. Bu$h. This book is about all of US - the true patriots who have fought for Democracy in the face of a criminal Republican Party, a corrupt media, and a cowardly Democratic Party. "They wrote letters, organized rallies and marches, signed petitions, formed Internet sites and groups, and did whatever else they could to register their disapproval of what the court did. They worked for needed electoral reforms so that all Americans' votes could be counted in future elections. 'We Will Not Get Over It: Restoring a Legitimate White House' covers their story, which has been largely ignored by the media. The roughly 100,000-word book was written by journalist Jackson Thoreau and social worker Sharon Thoreau." This is an eBook that you can print on your own printer - $5 donation requested.

"Mari Anderson has been flying two large American flags upside down at her home since the November 2000 presidential election. Flying flags upside down is a traditional way of displaying the flag when the nation is in distress. Anderson said that the upside-down flags are a political statement of her feelings after George W. Bush was declared the presidential winner in Florida over Al Gore... There also are a half-dozen other signs in her yard and hanging on her house with political statements about President Bush, his brother Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and their administrations. 'The election was a crime,' Anderson said. 'I went up to Washington, D.C., to protest, something I never thought in my life I would do. I was so upset I had to do something. We have rights and freedom of speech is one of our rights. I am exercising that but I am also worried that we are losing our rights.' Anderson said she plans to continue flying the flags upside down until after the 2004 presidential election."

Theft of the Presidency Day 427: Gore Won the Popular Vote by 543,895
09-Jan-02
Stolen Election 2000

Using data from revised state totals, the FEC now has the definitive official results of Election 2000. In the popular vote, Gore beat Bush 50,999,897 to 50,456,002, a margin of 543,895. Gore had the second highest vote total in history, behind Reagan in 1984. The only reason Bush occupies the White House is because he stole Florida's 25 electoral votes with the help of Jeb Bush, Katherine Harris, and the US Supreme Court. We will never get over it!

The Public Cause Network Reports on 'A Systematic Deception of the American Voter'
08-Jan-02
Stolen Election 2000

Writes Wm Wilgus: "The REAL story of the Election 2000 Presidential Race is about the media deceiving large numbers of voters, how the media was manipulated into deceiving those voters, why the media was manipulated into the deception, who did the manipulating, where the money that enabled the manipulation came from, and who the manipulator's accessories were. The deception was about one candidate being a liar, unscrupulous [oblivious to or contemptuous of what is right or honorable], and the flunky of another person…The candidate on whose behalf all of this was done is George W. Bush and the persons who did it were the 'back room boys' in his campaign organization. Every campaign has them, of course, and they're referred to as the 'Oppo', short for the 'opposition research department'. Dubya's Oppo (headed by Barbara Comstock and her deputy, Tim Griffin) was very well financed; and since they had quite a bit of help damaging Al Gore's image, were very effective."

Send a Letter to Congress Calling for the Censure of the Felonious Five!
08-Jan-02
Stolen Election 2000

"A Draft Resolution of Congressional Censure Against United States Supreme Court Justices Kennedy, O'Connor, Rehnquist, Scalia, and Thomas for Their Betrayal of the American People and the United States Constitution Displayed in the Decisions of Bush v. Gore...Add your own personal thoughts about the Bush v. Gore outrage to the following letter, print it out, sign, and send to your members of Congress. It's that easy." Send the letter drafted by Eric C. Jacobson and David Harnden-Warwick at Censure the Five. Also, you can read Mr. Jacobsen's recent article that was published in the Los Angeles Daily News by clicking on the 'Media' link on the lower left hand side of the page.

Fascinating Interview with Greg Palast, One of the Few Remaining Investigative Journalists
08-Jan-02
Carlyle Group

"But I got particulars of a meeting in which Saudi billionaires up who would be responsible to paying what to Osama. And apparently around the time of the meeting is when Osama blew up the Kohbar Towers in Saudi Arabia killing 19 American servicemen. It was seen by the group as not so much a political or emotional point, but as a reminder 'to make your darn payment.' Osama is often compared to Hitler but he should be seen as John Gotti times one hundred. He is running a massive international protection racket: Pay me or I will blow you up. The fact these payments are made is one of the things the Bush administration is trying very hard to cover-up. Now whether these payments were paid because they want to or it is coercion the Bush administration does not want to make a point of it." Palast also discusses the Bushes' CIA-based ties to the bin Laden family, Carlyle, the Bush-Barrick Gold Mine scam, the corruption of the Media and the stolen election.

"In its ongoing effort to aid and abet George W. Bush's illegal occupation of the White House, the corporate-owned, pro-Bush media sunk to a new low in their desperation to hide the truth that Al Gore got the most votes in Florida and clearly won the 2000 presidential election…The problem was that the media consortium didn't like the results of what NORC found. And even when the consortium applied the rules each of the 67 counties said they would have used in determining the intent of the voters, the result was inescapable: Al Gore won...The truth is, there are no scenarios that George W. Bush would have won under had the U.S. Supreme Court not stopped the counting of legal votes in Florida." So writes Nancy Kuhn in Online Journal.

While the P-resident asks Charlotte Church which state Wales is in ?!? (the 15-year old corrected Bu$h's geographical misstep during their recent visit,) India and Pakistan move closer to the unthinkable: "India and Pakistan imposed tit-for-tat diplomatic and economic sanctions on Thursday as the nuclear rivals continued their biggest military build-up in almost 15 years, stoking fears of war ...Along the volatile frontier which stretches 2,070 mile from Kashmir in the Himalayas to the Arabian Sea, villagers are fleeing as both sides rush extra troops and equipment, including fighter jets, tanks and artillery to forward bases and lay defensive minefields." In just a hair over one year following the stolen election, Bu$h has the world teetering on nuclear war.

What if the coup did not take place and Al Gore was in his rightful home, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue? Rightwing critics are already assailing President Gore's "alleged" performance, like the bad boss who determines your performance raise for December in January. A few pundits have sliced through this bias, such as attorney/activist Mike Hersh: "...this is not about Bush or Al Gore--it concerns more than two people. This concerns more than two hundred million people. This is not about politics as usual. This is not even about the stolen election. As with Watergate, there is a cancer on the Presidency and the nation. A sickness has infected our body politic and now threatens our free society. This is about the heart and soul of the American republic itself."

The New Yorker Tiptoes Around the Stolen Election
18-Dec-01
Stolen Election 2000

In The New Yorker's "Talk of the Town" column, Hendrik Hertzberg writes: "There is no longer any doubt that more Florida voters intended to vote for Gore than for Bush: according to the Times, some eight thousand Gore overvotes, net, were lost because of bad design (the notorious "butterfly" of Palm Beach) or confusing instructions (the two-page Duval County "caterpillar" ballot, which directed voters to "vote all pages"). But those votes were irredeemably spoiled, and the consortium did not consider them. In terms of those votes that were arguably valid, Florida— still—is too close to call." Sorry, Hendrik, but Al Gore won. Yes, the Electoral College should be abolished, but those responsible for stealing the Presidency - including the Supreme Court 5 - should be held accountable.

In Washington DC, the Bush Administration and the Republican Party have very different priorities. Instead of helping New York rise from the ashes, they would rather let us dig our way out of the rubble, by ourselves. Instead of assisting the many struggling families who need jobs, food and shelter, they would rather aid the fortunate few who own powerful corporations, oil fields, and mansions. Instead of showing the world America's pride in our unmatched system of open justice, they would rather conduct secret trials with secret evidence collected with secret methods by secret agents.
My fellow New Yorkers, the Bush Administration and the Republican Party have their priorities wrong.

We were thrilled with the outcome of the events we hosted in Washington DC on 12/10 and New York City on 12/12. We have received personal notes from many of you who attended, thanking us for organizing the events, and telling us how energized you were to be among others committed to telling the truth about Election 2000. We in turn are grateful to the generous members of Democrats.com who made these events possible. We believe we succeeded in our primary goal, which was to tell the world - including Bush, the media, and the silent Democrats - that millions of Americans believe Bush STOLE the election. If you attended one of our events, we invite you to post your comments. What do you think was the most important aspect of these events? What should we do next to build on the energy at these events?

End the Media Blackout of the Stolen Election - Call a Talk Show This Week!!
10-Dec-01
Stolen Election 2000

Democrats.com has tried to break through the media blackout of the Stolen Election. With your help, we were on several liberal radio talk shows this week for the first time. But most shows still refuse and none of the TV networks (including C-SPAN) or newspapers will cover our events. So to end the media blackout, we need YOU to raise your voice and make yourself heard. Please call EVERY talk show you watch or listen to, and make a simple statement, such as: "This week is the first anniversary of the infamous Supreme Court decision that appointed George W. Bush as President, even though he lost the election nationally and in Florida. I am a member of Democrats.com, and we refuse to accept the Stolen Election of 2000, and the undemocratic appointment of a President by 5 Republican judges. Please tell your listeners that millions of Americans feel this way, and we will sweep Republicans out of office in the next election." Write a letter to your paper also. Thanks!

We Must Never Forget (1)
10-Dec-01
Stolen Election 2000

"We must never forget. We must continue to point the finger at the Emperor and remind him and everyone else that he is morally bootless, unburdened by the restrictive nature of ethical clothings, bankrupt of wit and overflowing in unshirted indecency. He will fight us, no doubt, but what good are the implements of power in the hands of one so stupid and against so implacable a foe? We cannot be defeated, we have right on our side. We did not throw off the yoke of one King George, only to have it replaced by another. Like William Lloyd Garrison, we will not repent, we will not recant and we will not relent... and we will be victorious!" So writes Morris Smith in Democratic Underound.

Theft of the Presidency Day 397: Even Palm Beach's Poll Workers Had Problems with Punchcard Machines
09-Dec-01
Stolen Election 2000

Here's a story that could have changed the outcome of the recount - if it had been reported in November 2000, rather than December 2001. The punchcard machines in Palm Beach County were so error-prone that even experienced poll workers had trouble running tests on the machines before the polls opened. Theresa LePore insists the poll workers were trained to replace malfunctioning machines, but not a single one did - despite the fact that 261 of the county's 531 precincts had malfunctioning machines. These machines produced 10,311 ballots without a Presidential vote, over 5,000 of which had some kind of dimple. This is just one more piece of evidence that the problems in Florida were not "stupid voters" as the Republicans screamed, but rather "stupid machines," "stupid ballots," and "stupid officials." But don't expect the Republicans or their national media slaves to correct their lies.

On December 12, Hold a Candlelight Vigil for American Democracy
04-Dec-01
Stolen Election 2000

We now know that Gore really did win Florida, and the Supreme Court really did help Bush steal the Presidency. That makes it more important than ever to protest the Supreme Court's subversion of Democracy on December 12, the anniversary of Bush v. Gore. Major events are planned for Washington DC, New York City, Tampa FL, Orlando FL, Eugene OR, Oakland CA, Los Angeles CA, and Santa Ana CA. Let's make December 12 a national event, with candlelight vigils from coast to coast! Use our local chapters of Democrats.com to organize locally. Visit this page, find your state and county, join the group, pick a place and time, and spread the word! We suggest 6 pm at the nearest Federal courthouse, to make the connection to the Supreme Court. Bring your copy of "Betrayal of America," plus all of your buttons and signs from the past year. Tell the local press you will be there, and tell them to cover the news that millions of Americans refuse to "get over" the theft of the Presidency.

Gore Vidal Exposes the New York Times' Lies that Claimed Bush Won The Media Recount
03-Dec-01
Stolen Election 2000

Gore Vidal deconstructs the Times' disingenous reporting that Bush won the NORC recount, not Al Gore. "The most depressing aspect of this whole story is how little interest the people seem to have in the unconstitutional usurpation of a presidential election by a rogue Supreme Court majority. It is also striking how little moved they are by the rights we are so rapidly losing in the never-to-be-won war against never-to-be-defined 'terrorism.' The current confusions of the New York Times are not so much that paper's usual problems with honest reporting but what looks to be a perfect indifference to the welfare of this Republic, as opposed to corporate cheerleading for the new homeland that November 2000, not September 2001, made possible. Meanwhile, Vice President Cheney, in his 'undisclosed' bunker, is no doubt wondering whether or not to postpone the certain-to-be-divisive presidential election of 2004. After all, homeland security comes first."

So Bush Did Steal The White House
30-Nov-01
Stolen Election 2000

"Now, Judge Lewis's memo undercuts both the tone and the content of those news reports. It is certainly not clear anymore that the state-ordered recount would have favored Bush. It also appears likely that the interference by the U.S. Supreme Court was decisive. Based on the new evidence, the major newspapers look to be wrong on both these high-profile points. Beyond Gore's narrow victory from the recoverable ballots, the news organizations concluded – but played down – that Gore lost thousands of unrecoverable ballots because of flawed ballot designs in several Democratic strongholds. Gore lost other votes because Gov. Jeb Bush's administration disqualified hundreds of predominantly black voters who were falsely labeled felons. The New York Times also reported that Bush achieved a net gain of about 290 votes by getting illegally cast absentee votes counted in Republican counties while enforcing the rules strictly in Democratic counties." So writes Robert Parry.

"Next time some knucklehead complains about the left-wing press, ask him to explain the spin placed on the Florida election recount by the media consortium that sponsored it. The press interpreted the results to enhance President Bush's 'legitimacy' and explain away the Supreme Court's shameful decision to prevent the votes from being counted. 'Study of Disputed Florida Ballots Finds Justices Did Not Cast the Deciding Vote,' headlined the New York Times. 'In Election Review, Bush Wins Without Supreme Court Help,' said the Wall Street Journal. CNN.com wrote 'Florida Recount Study: Bush Still Wins." The Los Angeles
Times reported that 'Bush Still Had Votes to Win in a Recount, Study Finds,' and the Washington Post 'Florida Recounts Would Have Favored Bush.' In plain fact, the numbers by themselves showed almost the exact opposite: had every legal Florida vote been counted, Al Gore would be president." So writes Gene Lyons.

Conason: One Year Later, The 2000 Election Is Still A Sham
24-Nov-01
Stolen Election 2000

"Context is amply provided, along with clarity and color, by Jeffrey Toobin's 'Too Close to Call', a book that deserves study by anyone who professes to care about American democracy. As Mr. Toobin explains, that nasty fracas on Thanksgiving eve was only the most violent expression of the Bush campaign's thorough manipulation of the post-election process. Striving for fairness, Mr. Toobin doesn't hesitate to draw attention to the grievous shortcomings of the Democratic campaign and its candidate. Mr. Gore comes off as a sincere but hapless figure, in thrall to the opinions of newspaper editors who never cared
for him...The story of the 2000 election...tells us that our fundamental right to self-government has been corrupted and still awaits restoration. And it tells us something we need to remember about a President whose enthusiasm for government secrecy, military tribunals and other such constitutional affronts was foreshadowed in his leap to the White House."

Randy Schultz is the first Media Consortium representative to flatly declare the truth. "The wrong man became president of the United States in January. That isn't an opinion. It's a fact." He places the blame firmly on Theresa LePore. "Let's dispel one myth. The county's Democratic and Republican parties didn't 'sign off' on the butterfly ballot, as Mr. Bush's spinmeisters got away with claiming last year. The parties don't have to approve the ballot. Democratic officials never saw the ballot in the voting machine. The elections supervisor just has to get the names right and in order. Other supervisors told The Post that Ms. LePore never showed them her plan for putting all the candidates on two pages, and that if she had, they would have warned her about confusion." But blaming LePore is a copout; the Bush campaign could have allowed a revote - or a fair recount - but they were determined to steal the Presidency.

A recent review of the Florida 2000 election results by a [media] consortium...wrongly concluded that...Bush still would have won the state and the presidency if the recounts had not been halted by the U.S. Supreme Court. "They [media outlets] chose to spin the outcome as a victory for Bush," Bob Fertik...told CNSNews.com. "They chose to validate Bush's theft of the presidency rather than look at the facts..." When all the legal votes were counted, Gore won by margins ranging from 42 to 171 votes, depending on the standard used for...chads. Moreover, if the voting machines had accurately recorded the intent of Florida's voters, Gore would have won by more than 25,000 votes…the only scenarios that supported a Bush victory were those where some legal votes were not counted, Fertik said. "If you count the votes, Gore wins. If you don't count the votes, Bush wins. In a democracy, you're supposed to count the votes," he said.

Theft of the Presidency Day 376 (1): Can We Debate the Stolen Election While Fighting a War? Absolutely!
18-Nov-01
Stolen Election 2000

"When will we reformers start to demand, without apology, that our political leaders treat November 7 with at least a measure of the seriousness they have accorded September 11? We do not diminish the dead, nor the struggle to protect the living, when we say that this country is strong enough to face tough questions about the legitimacy of its leaders and its democracy even in a time of war and uncertainty. Rather, we prove a national strength and resolve that run deeper than personalities, to the very heart of the American experiment. [Women's suffrage heroine] Alice Paul would tell us that, in challenging leaders in a time of war to make real their talk of democracy, we practice the truest patriotism. In an oral history, conducted toward the end of her long life, Paul recalled the "radical" sign that stirred so much controversy outside the White House during World War I. It read: "Democracy should begin at home." So writes John Nichols in In These Times.

Theft of the Presidency Day 375(1): Why The Media Consortium's Big Lie Does Not Make Bush 'Legitimate'
17-Nov-01
Stolen Election 2000

The Media Consortium's "proclamation" that its recount shows that Bush won has produced considerable confusion. Here's an excellent concise refutation of the consortium's Big Lie. "Gore didn't actually get what he asked for. He requested a liberal standard of voter intent, but Palm Beach - acting on the advice of Katherine Harris's lawyer - imposed a narrow standard instead. More importantly, Gore did belatedly ask Bush to agree to a statewide count, and Bush refused the offer. But even if none of this were true - even if Gore had never asked for what the Florida voters deserved - it would not make what happened any less of a travesty. The important rights at stake, after all, are those of the voters, not those of the candidates. And the voters have a right to the most accurate determination of their intent possible - regardless of which candidate has the better legal staff." Always remember - it's OUR votes!

In a story entitled "An election correction," the Economist issued the following correction:
"In the issues of December 16th 2000 to November 10th 2001, we may have given the impression that George Bush had been legally and duly elected president of the United States. We now understand that this may have been incorrect, and that the election result is still too close to call. The Economist apologises for any inconvenience." We call upon EVERY media outlet to do the same!

Bugliosi Says It's Still Time to Impeach the Supreme Court Five
16-Nov-01
Stolen Election 2000

"Obviously September 11 dealt a solar plexus blow to this whole movement.... But I think that in the dispassionate light of the future, history is going to be harsh on us. We already know the moral bankruptcy and the destitution of character of these five Justices. They have proven that. But if we Americans meekly allow what the Court did to stand, without demonstrating our absolute outrage, what does that say about our character? I think history is going to be harsh not just on the Supreme Court but on the American people for allowing this to happen without marching in the streets. History will say we should have been in the streets." So declares Vincent Bugliosi in an interview with The Nation's John Nichols. You go, Vince!

Meria Heller Interviews Bob Fertik
15-Nov-01
Democrats.com Events

Bob Fertik was interviewed on the "Meria Heller Show" international webcast on the NORC Report, the Stolen Election and freedom in America today. Bob discusses practical changes that MUST be made to insure a legitimate election in 2002 and 2004. Bob also discusses the NORC report clearly showing GORE the winner, yet the media spin played it into Bush's camp. Also on the show (first half) is Nancy Oden of the Green Party, who was stopped at the airport in Bangkor, Maine and grounded from flying based on her name being on their "computer list". Nancy is an organic farmer (her first love) and environmentalist. Hear her firsthand report of what happened to her in AMERICA 2001. All shows are archived for listening 24/7 at www.Meria.net

Robert Kunst, Candidate for Governor of Florida, was on the Meria Heller Show this week. Robert talks about what is going on in Florida today, and what Jeb is up to. Robert was at a Voter Reform meeting in Tampa, Florida and was threatened with arrest for speaking about the Stolen Election. Robert said "why are we talking about voter reform, when we can't even get the votes counted?" - he was then threatened with arrest and forced to leave. This type of "McCarthyism" is happening more and more in America, and Mr.Kunst is not one to stand for it. Interestingly, Tampa is the same town where 3 grandmas were arrested in last summer for holding anti-Bush signs. Florida's tourism is drowning and Jeb Bush says he "wants to read about it in the newspapers". Roberts campaign slogan is "we won't steal your vote." This is a great interview archived at www.Meria.net.

On November 6 - even before the media recount proved that Al Gore won Florida - a Gallup poll showed nearly half of Americans still did not believe Bush won "fair and square." "Americans have not changed their minds about what happened in the election and its aftermath. The poll shows that today 50% of Americans say Bush won the presidency fair and square, while 32% say he won it on a technicality, and 15% say he stole the election. These numbers are little changed from those found immediately after the Supreme Court decision in December that effectively halted the vote recount and made Bush the winner. At that time, 48% said Bush won fair and square, 32% said he won on a technicality, and 18% said he stole the election. These results are also remarkably similar to those obtained in a Gallup poll this past July." If the media would stop lying and tell Americans the truth, there would be a political revolution in America.

As part of our campaign to get out the truth that George Bush stole the election, Bob Fertik is making appearances on talk shows - including right wing shows. On Wednesday, Bob debated Kevin Miller on WERC 960AM in Birmingham Alabama. Needless to say, Bob proved beyond any doubt that Al Gore won Florida. And for good measure, Bob also proved that Al Gore would be a better wartime President - and might even have prevented the 911 attack. Bob is willing to debate ANY right wing talk show host in the United States. You can help! Call the hosts you hate the most, and challenge them to debate Bob on their show. If they agree, click below to give us the details and we'll make the arrangements. This is step 1 of our "Democracy in 2002" campaign - we must get out the truth about the Stolen Election!

Theft of the Presidency Day 372 (4): The 'Conspiracy Theorists' Were Right about the Media Coverup
13-Nov-01
Stolen Election 2000

"If the U.S. Supreme Court had given the state enough time to fashion a comprehensive remedy or if Bush had agreed to a full-and-fair recount earlier, the popular will of the American voters – both nationally and in Florida – might well have been respected. Al Gore might well have been inaugurated president... But this outcome was not the favored hypothetical of the news organizations, which apparently wanted to avoid questions about their patriotism. If they had simply given the American people the unvarnished facts, the reality that the voters of Florida favored Al Gore might have bolstered the belief that Bush indeed did steal the White House. That, in turn, could have undermined his legitimacy... The national news media also showed little regard for the fundamental principle of democracy: that leaders derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, not from legalistic tricks, physical intimidation and public-relations maneuvers." So writes Robert Parry.

Theft of the Presidency Day 372 (1): How Bush Lost Florida But Won In The Supreme Court And The Media
13-Nov-01
Stolen Election 2000

"Gore beat Bush in the national popular vote by over a half million votes. Secondly, Consortium interpretations of the voting data conclude that thousands more people voted for Gore in Florida than Bush. The problem for Gore is that many more votes in his favor were declared invalid than similar votes for Bush. Third, discounting such invalid votes, Consortium interpretations conclude that Gore still beat Bush statewide in Florida by a thin margin of under 200 votes. Which brings us back to the Supreme Court decision." So writes Jerry Politex in BushWatch.

"Still trying to figure out which recount standard to apply? Try this one: Al Gore won Florida by approximately 30,000 votes and there were 30,000 excuses for not counting them... What we come away with from Florida is a Man running the country who we know wasn't elected. Every time he pays off one of his backers, every time he alienates one of our allies, every time he tries to exterminate the legacy of his predecessor we are reminded and it cannot go away. With each increment of descent into chaos we find all exits from Florida blocked. What a spectacular abdication of journalistic integrity, to admit clearly on the one hand that the people of the state of Florida chose Al Gore, and at the very same moment to unilaterally mask that with misleading headlines." So writes Marc Ash
in Truthout.com

Following the long-awaited recount of Florida's Presidential ballots, Democrats.com declared Gore the winner of the 2000 election and launched a "Democracy in 2002" campaign to sweep Democrats into office across America in the next election. According to Democrats.com co-founder Bob Fertik, "It has taken more than a year, but we have finally learned the truth about Florida - that if all of the votes had been counted, Al Gore would be President. The only reason George W. Bush was sworn into office is because his campaign adamantly refused to count all of the votes. To put it simply: George W. Bush stole Florida with the help of his brother, Governor Jeb Bush, his campaign co-chair, Secretary of State Katherine Harris, and a partisan Republican majority of the U.S. Supreme Court. The 30,000 members of Democrats.com are proud to declare that we will NEVER 'get over' the Stolen Election."

On the 1 year anniversary of the Stolen Election, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) held a press conference in front of the Supreme Court to announce his introduction of a Constitutional Amendment that would guarantee Americans the right to vote in Presidential elections. "Most Americans will be shocked, appalled and outraged to learn that their Constitution does not grant them the right to vote..." Jackson said, recalling Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's admonition to Al Gore's lawyers during last year's Florida dispute that no such protection exists. "Even though the right to vote is the supreme right in a democracy, the Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore told Americans there is no explicit fundamental right to suffrage in the Constitution." (Second article after The Nation's re-cap of the NORC recount results).

Theft of the Presidency Day 365: Miami Herald Changes Its Story Again, Now Blaming the Ballot Design
07-Nov-01
Stolen Election 2000

For a year, the Miami Herald has been blaming voting machines - primarily punchcard systems - for most of Florida's 175,000 uncounted votes. Suddenly, a year later, the Herald has changed its story, and now blames "poorly designed ballots." "Those troublesome ballots, used in 18 counties, had presidential candidates broken into two columns or spread over two pages." Well, duh! The whole world knew about Teresa LePore's "Butterfly Ballot" on November 8, 2000. This and the other confusing ballot designs were ILLEGAL and should have been vetoed by Secretary of Katherine Harris, but she was too busy taking first class trips around the globe to enforce Florida's election laws. Just one more reason why Harris should be indicted, not elected!

After a month, it appears clear that the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan has backfired. It has not driven the Taliban from power; instead, it has rallied the people of Afghanistan behind them. So why are we dropping so many backfiring bombs? Could this be a payoff from Bush Jr. to his father, Bush Sr., and his other cronies - including the mastermind of the Stolen Election, James Baker - who are the super-wealthy influence peddlers in the Carlyle Group? According to the Guardian, "Among the defence firms which benefit from Carlyle's success is United Defense, a Virginia-based contractor which makes vertical missile launch systems currently on board US Navy ships in the Arabian sea." Disturbing questions like these are EXACTLY the reason why former Presidents and other top government officials should be prohibited from selling their influence in the private sector. We demand an investigation!

Celebrate V2K Day 2001 on November 7!
02-Nov-01
Stolen Election 2000

This Wednesday, November 7th, will be the one year anniversary of President Gore's victory over former Governor George W. Bush. Just as Americans celebrated "VE" day in 1945 when peace had finally come to Europe but war still raged in the Pacific, we're asking Gore supporters to celebrate "V2K Day" as the first step toward total victory in 2004. There are five simple actions you can chose from to celebrate V2K Day 2001!

The NORC Data Will Show That Al Gore Won Florida
01-Nov-01
Stolen Election 2000

Researcher Paul Lukasiak has compiled the DEFINITIVE analysis proving Al Gore won Florida. Lukasiak shows: 1) over 10,000 Gore votes were lost through bad ballot design, 2) 45,000 more people went to the polls in Florida to voter for Gore than for Bush, 3) Gore lost over 500 net votes because some election officials illegally refused to count prescribed legal votes, 4) selective 'hand counting' in mostly Republican controlled counties gave Bush an extra 3000+ votes, 5) Bush's 'victory' was based solely on the illegal use of different standards for counting ballots within counties themselves as well as statewide, 6) Katherine Harris deliberately ignored both the State Constitution's guarantee of equal protection, as well as the specific statutory requirement that she personally ensure that election laws were applied consistently throughout the state. Send this article to every reporter you know!

Michael Rectenwald of Citizens for Legitimate Government (legitgov.org) was interviewed on The Meria Heller Show at www.Meria.net (archived) at length on the state of the world, the U.S.A. and the Stolen Election. Discussed at length are the repercussions of the lax attitude by Americans to defend their democratic right during the 2000 Selection, and what is happening to our country and our rights today. Also discussed is what truly defines a real patriot, and the need to fight for freedoms. Michael's thoughts on the disparity of justice in this country, the second class treatment of the postal workers where anthrax is concerned, the lack of leadership when we need it most -- and Bob Fertik's article on how things would be if Gore was President -- make for an awesome interview.

While Americans are dying both at home and abroad in Bush's War Against Terrorism, Senior Advisor Karl Rove is urging Bush to sabotage our national unity and embrace partisan politics. Republican governors are holding a $1 million dinner on Thursday, and rich donors who give $100,000 were promised special access to Bush with the "official presidential arrival party." Even Dick Cheney thought Bush shouldn't go, but Karl Rove wouldn't quit, strongly urging Bush to attend right up to the last minute. Of course, Karl Rove was the chief architect of the Stolen Election, so we're not surprised that he would undermine America from within the White House. But if Bush is serious about keeping America united in his War Against Terrorism, it's time for serious action - including the renunciation of partisan politics for the duration of the War, and the immediate firing of Karl Rove.

"Shortly after George W. Bush declared his candidacy for president in June of 1999, General Electric Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jack Welch was contacted by Bush political advisor Karl Rove. Welch later informed associates that Rove told him a Bush administration would initiate comprehensive deregulation of the broadcast industry. Rove guaranteed that deregulation would be implemented in a way that would create phenomenal profits for conglomerates with significant media holdings, like GE... Welch told several people at GE that the conversation with Rove convinced him that a Bush presidency would ultimately result in billions of dollars of additional profits for General Electric. Welch believed that it was his responsibility to operate in the best interest of GE shareholders, and that now meant using the full power of the world’s biggest corporation to get Bush into the White House" - including NBC News. So write David Podvin and Carolyn Kay.

Jeffrey Toobin's new book, "Too Close to Call," is an in-depth review of the Florida recount battle. "The wrong man was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2001, and this is no small thing in our nation's history," Mr. Toobin writes. "The bell of this election can never be unrung, and the sound will haunt us for some time." According to NY Times reviewer Janet Maslin, "In practical terms, this means a demonstration of how, while Vice President Al Gore and his aides 'were hunched over their calculators, the Republicans were breaking bar stools over their heads.'" Check it out!

When Democrats wanted Florida election officials to manually examine ballots that were rejected by tabulating machines, Republicans SCREAMED that machines were infallible, while humans were completely incompetent. Republicans pushed this outrageous propaganda campaign all the way to the US Supreme Court, which used this Big Lie to block a state-wide manual recount. Now, a year later, Katherine Harris admits that manual recounts are IN FACT superior to machines. Harris' new rules simply lay out what law-abiding counties SHOULD have done in the LAST election. And many Republican counties did so - and Harris accepted those manually counted votes - but Harris deliberately refused to let Democratic counties in South Florida count the same votes, so she could STEAL the election for Bush. This is why Harris belongs in jail, not Congress.

Elian Supporters Refuse to 'Get Over It'
05-Oct-01
Right Wing

Miami Cuban supporters of Elian Gonzalez - who are some of the loudest voices telling Democrats to "get over" the Stolen Election - refuse to "get over" Elian's return to his father. A group of 52 protesters and bystanders who were present during the Justice Department's April 22, 2000 raid have sued Janet Reno for at least $100 million. Judge K. Michael Moore has defied all precedent and allowed the lawsuit against Reno to proceed. Perhaps Judicial Watch will take the case of the victims of Philadelphia's MOVE bombing, or the victims of the National Guard at Kent State and Jackson State, or even the Black Panthers.

Katherine Harris Should be Indicted, Not Elected - Sign the Petition
03-Oct-01
Katherine Harris

While the nation still grieves, Katherine Harris announced her candidacy for the U.S. Congress, bringing back all of the leftover anger from the Stolen Election. By our count, Harris has committed nearly 20 specific crimes while serving as Florida's Secretary of State, which are documented here. Either we are a country of laws, or we are not. We call upon Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth (The Capitol Tallahassee, FL 32399-1050, phone 850-487-1963) and Leon County (Tallahassee) State Attorney Willie Meggs (301 South Monroe St. #475, Tallahassee FL 32399, phone 850-488-6701) to hold Katherine Harris accountable for her actions. Sign the petition to indict Katherine Harris!

President Gore Puts His Country Ahead of Politics
30-Sep-01
Al Gore

In his first public speech since he conceded the Stolen Election on December 12, Al Gore pledged his support for George W. Bush. "We are united behind our president George W. Bush, behind our country, behind the effort to seek justice not revenge, to make sure this can never, ever happen again, and to make sure that we have the strongest unity in America that we have ever had," Gore said. As Americans, we applaud Al Gore for putting his country ahead of politics. But as Democrats, we are waiting for a leader of our party to step forward and stand up to Republicans in the Administration and Congress who want to exploit our precious national unity to advance their right-wing ideological agendas - whether on civil liberties, taxes, trade, or the environment. Sign our petition here: http://www.petitiononline.com/ddc20/petition.html

The NORC Florida Ballot Study, Part Two: The News that Would Have Been
25-Sep-01
Stolen Election 2000

Before the terrorist attack, September was destined to be a difficult month for George W. Bush. Allegations about the 2000 election and his legitimacy were about hit the news... pressure was mounting for formal investigations into election law violations in Florida... Dick Cheney was under increasing criticism about not releasing the names of the people who influenced energy policy... Newsweek published excerpts of "The Accidental President"... a major report was about to be released about the devastation landmines were bringing to innocent people, highlighting the treaty the U.S. has still not signed... international dissatisfaction was growing about the increasing U. S. arrogance and isolation... thousands of protesters were planning to link their arms around the White House... And, as George W. traveled to Florida to celebrate increased test scores at a Jacksonville school, an allegation arose that the scores were bogus. Then Fate intervened...

During his speech to the nation, Bush asked, "Why do they hate us?" And he answered: "They hate what they see right here in this chamber, a democratically elected government. Their leaders are self-appointed. They hate our freedoms, our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other." Our democratically elected government? Unfortunately, our questions about Bush's "victory" remain unanswered. Perhaps some day Bush will answer them.

On Monday, Ari Fleischer called Belarus' elections "severely flawed" and said "Aleksander Lukashenko, Europe’s last dictator, [stole] the elections from the Belarusian people." Ari, we're avoiding partisanship during our national crisis, but let's just put it this way: you really shouldn't start a discussion about stealing elections.

Democrats.com Launches Fall Offensive!
10-Sep-01
Democrats.com Events

Heading into the fall campaign of 2001, Democrats.com is launching a "Fall Offensive" to remind voters about the Stolen Election of 2000, and to channel the anger felt by millions of Americans into effective political action, culminating in a grassroots movement to to return Democrats to control at every level of government. According to Democrats.com co-founder Bob Fertik, "The 27,000 members of Democrats.com are proud to declare that we will NEVER 'get over' the Stolen Election." According to co-founder David Lytel, "The unlawful suspension of the recount in Florida by the U.S. Supreme Court is the most important crime against democracy in our long and proud history. We know that millions of Americans are still angry about the election, so despite the almost total news blackout of this issue we will work tirelessly to ensure that justice prevails through the ballot box." Read our plan - and get involved!

In this week's cover story, Newsweek's Howard Fineman breaks the media silence on the rage felt by Democrats over the Stolen Election. "Most voters have put Florida 2000 out of their minds, but not hard-core Democrats, who blame the high court and the Bush family for Gore's loss. 'People say I should stop talking about it,' says DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe. 'But I'll tell you what: our people are still mad.' The Florida fiasco shows the need for uniform national election rules, he says. Until Bush agrees, McAuliffe says, he'll mouth off." Right on, Terry! Meanwhile, the media is eagerly awaiting Al Gore's Iowa speech on September 28 - will he denounce the Stolen Election? Whether he does, or doesn't, we certainly will. Because in the end, it wasn't about Al Gore - it was about the right of the American people to choose their leader through their votes. Memo to the media: "It's the voters, stupid!"

KMA, GOP!
09-Sep-01
Stolen Election 2000

"Now that the cumulative weight of the evidence from the journalists, researchers, legal scholars and authors has mounted, the verdict is in. It is unanimous and it is loud and it is clear: the Republican Party stole the presidential election of 2000. The Republicans stole it six ways from Sunday -- the faith-based GOP's favorite day of the week -- and now they have history to answer to... It was, in short, a naked power grab, as unseemly as anything that occurs with regularity in Africa, Asia and Latin America, those areas we used to dismiss as Third World 'banana republics.' The crime is so vast and so well-documented that no amount of dissembling, rewriting and Sunday morning punditry can paper it over. It's on the record, an indelible blemish on the American soul." So writes Alan Bisbort in American Politics Journal.

Democrats.com is planning to make some news! On Tuesday, September 11, we will hold our FIRST Washington DC press conference, along with Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and author Vince Bugliosi. We will be announcing our "Fall Offensive" for the First Anniversary of the Stolen Election of 2000. Co-founders Bob Fertik and David Lytel will describe the overwhelming evidence that Al Gore won; the evidence of nearly 60 crimes committed by Republican officials that must be investigated; and our grassroots efforts to enact election reform; enact a voting rights constitutional amendment; impeach the Supreme Court 5; and sweep all Republicans out of office in the upcoming elections. Call or e-mail your favorite Washington reporters and urge them to attend!

"Speak softly and carry a big stick" - that's Janet Reno's approach to politics. Instead of the usual brass-band announcement, Reno simply invited reporters to her home to tell them she was running for Governor. "I've spent the last three months talking to people all across Florida, and I think they share my vision for Florida -- building the best educational system in the country, preserving our environment, managing our growth and standing up for our elders," she said. Early polls taken before Reno became a serious candidate showed Reno was only slightly behind Jeb; the next round of polls will certainly show her gaining ground. With Jeb's tax giveaways running Florida's budget way into the red, Jeb will have a hard time convincing Floridians to give him another chance. And then, of course, there's the small matter of the Stolen Election...

Florida Republicans Complain About E-mail Use by Democratic Official
03-Sep-01
Stolen Election 2000

The Republican Party of Florida is up in arms because Leon County Commissioner Cliff Thaell, a Democrat, used his county e-mail address to post a single letter of support for gubernatorial candidate Pete Peterson. This is the same Republican Party whose Governor and Secretary of State used their offices in countless ways to steal the Presidency. Tell reporter David Twiddy (drtwiddy@taldem.com) you are outraged - and want a FULL investigation of the abuses of Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris' offices to steal the presidency.

According to a recent Fox poll, 58% of Americans are still angry over the stolen election - an unpleasant fact the pro-Bush New York Times does not consider "fit to print." Now that Al Gore is moving towards launching his 2004 campaign, the Times is at least acknowledging that many of Gore's DONORS are still angry over the Stolen Election. But as the entire Republican media did in 2000, the Times is looking for every possible way to trivialize Al Gore - which includes relying entirely on ANONYMOUS Gore critics. Why should we believe the Times isn't simply making up these anti-Gore quotes? DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe has it exactly right: "He got more votes than any candidate other than Ronald Reagan. He has got a very strong base out there. He's back, he's giving speeches, he's going to raise money for us this fall. I'm still bullish on Al Gore." Gore gives his big speech in Iowa on September 28 - give 'em hell, Al!

According to Rev. Jesse Jackson, "It is time for Sen. Joe Lieberman to use his new position as chair of the Senate Rules Committee to examine some of these questions. We need to know the truth about Florida. And Lieberman owes it to the large number of supporters - particularly African-Americans - who worked so hard for his election; to the millions across this nation who came to the polls to vote for him as vice president; and to the thousands and thousands in Florida who tried to cast their votes for him only to be denied the chance. The 2000 election is no longer about Bush vs. Gore. The unfinished business is to redeem America's democracy - to expose the fraud and the failures, to remedy the abuses and to expand the opportunity to vote. Count every vote - every vote counts. It is up to Congress to insure that this simple promise is met." We agree!

White House Thief Complains About Election Crimes - In Belarus, Not the U.S.
29-Aug-01
Stolen Election 2000

Even though he stole the Presidency, Bush has the unbelievable arrogance to criticize upcoming elections in Belarus. Bush is complaining about suppression of the opposition media - but the U.S. doesn't even HAVE a serious opposition media, thanks to Republican control of the airwaves. Meanwhile, Bush is locking up journalists and star wars critics, and pushing an "Official Secrets" act through Congress. Let's ask Belarus to investigate Bush's stolen election!

"A Democratic state representative from Palm Beach County is calling for a criminal investigation of county Election Supervisor Theresa LePore, whose 'butterfly ballot' and malfunctioning voting machines might have swung the presidential election to George W. Bush. Rep. Irv Slosberg of Boca Raton filed an eight-page complaint July 26 with Sheriff Ed Bieluch... It alleges that LePore's unconventional facing-page ballot and some particularly troublesome punch-card voting machines used by the county violated state election law. 'I don't think this is a conspiracy,' Slosberg said. 'I think it just has to do with Theresa LePore and the way she's running her office. She's a nice lady, but she's drowning.'" Slosberg wants an investigation of Lepore's purchase of cheap "Data-Punch" knockoffs of the Votomatic machines, as well as election day use of machines that were known to be malfunctioning.

Katherine Harris has insisted that the three GOP operatives who ran a partisan "war room" out of her non-partisan office were "volunteers." But once again Katherine Harris has been caught lying, because she agreed to pay one of them - Adam Goodman - $12,000 for his work during the recount. And Goodman's correspondence leaves no doubt as to the nature of their relationship: instead of trying to objectively apply Florida election law, he and Katherine were working to "rock the world" - GOPspeak for stealing the election for Bush. Harris refused to pay Goodman from her political funds, because his work for her was in her "official" capacity. This means Harris intentionally used her office to hire a GOP operative to help her steal the Presidency. We demand an investigation!

"If Mark Crispin Miller is right, the White House is occupied by a right-wing cabal, fronted by a man so sure of his dynastic ascendancy that he does not even bother to adhere to the rules of common English, so complacent in his privilege that he flaunts his ignorance as if it were the ultimate mark of superiority. If Miller is right, this man was not elected president in any legal or moral sense. If Miller is right, a sophisticated right-wing propaganda machine, operating with the aid of corporate-influenced big media, has brainwashed Americans into believing that he was. If Miller is right, the presidency of George W. Bush dealt democracy a potentially murderous blow, a blow that left millions of voters mentally and emotionally stunned, unable to truly comprehend the enormity of the Supreme Court's decision nine months ago. If Miller is right, these voters are just coming to, and once they are fully conscious, there's going to be hell to pay." Of course Miller is right!

Greg Palast On The Meria Heller Show
21-Aug-01
Stolen Election 2000

Greg talks about the pressure of Barrick Gold Mine (George Sr.'s old
buddies) on his expose of their dealings with Bush and loss of Human
rights; culminating in the REMOVAL of his article from his AMERICAN
website. This is a HUGE story about losing freedom of speech here in
AMERICA when it concerns a U.S. website. Greg also talks about how the
"committee?" has decided to "move on" as far as the Florida vote recount
is concerned. Yet, there are 180,000 votes that still have not been
counted the FIRST time. As Democrats.com has already said Florida is
getting ready for another pre-election purge - get active. Stay tuned -
all shows archived at www.Meria.net.

How the Repug's Stopped the Recount in Dade County on November 22
20-Aug-01
Stolen Election 2000

Arthur Buonamia, District Chairman of the Miami Democratic Executive Committee, tells his eyewitness account of the morning of the stopped recount in Dade County, when he was one of the people actually DOING the recount. Buonamia exposes the radio stations 1140 am, 670 am and 710am which carefully orchestrated the inciting of the radical right wing Cuban exile community in collusion with the hired thugs from the Repugs. Arthur blows the lid of this supposed spontaneous protest to stop the recount. This action only took place WHEN cameras were rolling. What were staffers of Trent Lott and Tom DeLay doing there? Listen to truth of the mob action on the 19th floor of the Clark building and realize this ELECTION WAS STOLEN while the media and the police looked the other way. Buonamia is interviewed by Meria Heller.

In February, NBC News President Andrew Lack[ey] promised under oath to provide Congress with a videotape of GE CEO Jack Welch telling NBC to call the election for Bush, even though the election was too close to call. Now NBC refuses to release the footage. What is NBC hiding? We demand the truth about NBC's role in the Stolen Election!

The folks who scream at us to "get over" the stolen election just can't seem to get over the Clintons, can they? Reed Irvine's right-wing Accuracy in Media is bringing the Vince Foster case before a federal judge in order to prove Foster was murdered, not a suicide victim. Here's the neat twist - they're suing their own hero, Ken Starr!

A report put together for Election Center, a nonpartisan, nonprofit electionsd watchdog group concludes that allegations of racial discrimination against voters in the 2000 election are serious enough to warrant a full investigation by the Justice Department. "Since the allegations are so serious and can have such a major impact on any proposed congressional legislation affection elections, it is critical that the Justice Department appoint investigators immediately." The task force of three dozen election officials who compiled the report also made recommendations for election changes that would improve the system.

Poor Katherine Harris! The mere suggestion that she stole the election reduces her to tears. But when it comes to proving her innocence, she leaves us high and dry. Under cross-examination, she now admits that her much-touted "firewall" between official duties and politics ONLY referred to the 36-day recount. But even THEN she had 3 GOP operatives working in her office - Mac Stipanovich, Adam Goodman, and her unnamed campaign manager, whose AOL name is GOPspinner - a 100% pure partisan hack! PLUS "there may have been communication over legal strategies between Harris' legal team and top members of Bush's legal team." SAY WHAT??? Were Harris' lawyers CONSPIRING with Bush's lawyers to STEAL the election? We demand an investigation!

In a major report, local election officials called on the Justice Department to thoroughly investigate complaints from Florida, especially those documented by the US Commission on Civil Rights. In response, the Justice Department said it had received THOUSANDS of complaints, but had thrown all but TWELVE - probably all of the complaints filed by Republicans. We demand oversight hearings from the Senate Judiciary Committee!

Theft of the Presidency Day 269 (3): Harris Disks Show LOTS of Political Activity, Proving Harris is a Liar
08-Aug-01
Stolen Election 2000

Here are some of the political activities conducted on Harris' computer. 1) On 1/29/00, a speech written for a Republican meeting that declared: "We are READY TO LEAD!" 2) On 3/14/00, a set of campaign talking points for George W. Bush. 3) On 11/14/00, an examination of the campaign finances of FL Supreme Court Justice Barbara Pariente - who was reviewing important election cases. 4) A list of contributors to Harris' 1998 Democratic opponent, Karen Gievers (undated). Item #3 proves that Harris lied when she declared: "no partisan political activity transpired in my office during the recount period." And from #1, here's the clincher that perfectly sums up Harris' role in stealing the election: "I am a bit biased - after all - I co-chair the campaign effort of George W. Bush." Thanks, Katherine - we'll engrave that on your jail cell door.

The Florida Supreme Court ordered Katherine Harris to accept the Palm Beach recount until 5 pm on Sunday November 26 or on Monday at 9 am. But at 1:30 pm on Sunday, GOP operatives in Harris' office had already written speeches rejecting the court-ordered recount as "unlawful" and declaring Bush the winner, according to documents from her computers recovered by The Palm Beach Post. At 5 pm, Harris in fact rejected the recount because it was two hours from completion, even though Harris could have accepted the completed returns the following morning. On December 9, the Florida Supreme Court overruled Harris and ordered her to include 383 additional votes for Gore in Palm Beach and Miami-Dade, reducing Bush's lead to 154 and ordering a state-wide count of undervotes. That's when the Felonious Five of the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in to declare Bush the winner, contrary to all applicable law and the US Constitution. It is now clear that the Republicans were DETERMINED to steal Florida.

Although in theory we support any efforts to unmask Cruella De Harris's treachery in the 2000 election, the current effort is not only phony, it is doomed to failure. Does anyone in their right minds seriously think that after 9 months Harris has knowingly left a SHRED of evidence on her computers? Secondly, does anyone with any knowledge of the corporate media really believe that the Associated Press, which is conducting the search, is UNBIASED. Yeah, right. They are as close to being an honorary Bush PR office as they can be without actually moving their headquarters into the West Wing. So, if anything is turned up in this search, it will be by pure accident and careless handling of the evidence (i.e., someone didn't hide it fast enough).

Meria Heller Interviews Bob Kunst
08-Aug-01
Campaign 2002

Robert Kunst of the Oral Majority is taking on Florida by running for Governor against Jeb and his mockery machine of justice. Kunst is interviewed by Meria Heller on his campaign (and the media blackout - what are they so afraid of?), 152 protests since the STOLEN ELECTION, lawsuits against the Tampa Police; the Big Brother attempt of cameras on the streets of Tampa, faith based collusion of church and state, and much more. Where DID Jeb get $175 million? What is Katherine Harris' connection to the supposed Canker disease in Florida's Citrus trees? Is it connected to Enron Corporation or the building of 57 new power plants? How did a German Construction Company "building for the Fuhrer" get the contract on the WW II memorial?

'Ethics' Committee Buys Buyer's Lies
05-Aug-01
Stolen Election 2000

The House Ethics Committee believed Rep. Steve Buyer (R-IN) when he claimed he knew nothing about the forwarding of military e-mail addresses to Florida Republican operative Rob Carter to wage a propaganda war against Al Gore. But we don't believe it for a second. We demand Buyer take a lie detector test, just like Republicans have demanded of Condit. This is an extremely serious charge - politicizing the military to win an election. We also demand the prosecution of Buyer aide Michael Higgins, who pressured the Pentagon into turning over the e-mail addresses. We also demand the prosecution of Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY) and the Congressional aides who staged a riot in Miami to interfere with the administration of the election.

Did NBC Distort its Coverage to Elect Bush? We Demand the Truth!
05-Aug-01
Stolen Election 2000

According to Media Whores Online, "Reliable sources have informed MWO that Jack Welch and Tim Russert attended last autumn's Al Smith Dinner in New York together - and that Russert, on the back of his lapel, was cleverly wearing a Bush for President button. Russert has reportedly tried to shrug off the incident in private, but has failed to discuss it publicly. MWO has also been told that either during or after the campaign, Republican Welch chewed out his employee, NBC News correspondent Claire Shipman, for being too favorable to Gore." If this is true, it's further proof that the TV networks rigged the election for Bush - and should have their broadcast licenses revoked. Demand the truth from NBC executives Andrew Lack (andrew.lack@nbc.com) and Cory Sh
ields (cory.shields@nbc.com).

Meria Heller Interviews Vince Bugliosi
02-Aug-01
Supreme Court

Vincent Bugliosi, author of "The Betrayal Of America, How The Supreme Court
Undermined the Constitution And Chose Our President," was interviewed by
Meria Heller on July 31. Bugliosi, the legendary prosecutor of Charles
Manson, presented the whole truth about the illegal actions of the
Felonious Five. Bugliosi also discussed why all of America should be up in
arms over this stolen election. Bugliosi is the ONLY national figure
who is really OUT there on this issue. Why? This was an excellent interview full
of facts about the hidden agenda of the Felonious Five.

There she goes again! Theresa LePore recently "wiped out computer files showing how each ballot was punched in the presidential election, removing that information from the public domain even as scholars and journalists continue to analyze the results of Florida's presidential voting... The erasure is an unexpected blow to advocates of election reform because of the data's historical value. By wiping out the records, the elections staff also may have violated Florida's strict rules against destroying public records." C'mon Theresa - why don't you resign already and put Palm Beach - and America - out of its misery? We demand that Katherine Harris order the immediate safeguarding of ALL public records concerning the 2000 election - including the records of state offices (including Jeb's) and all county offices.

"Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) wants NBC News to surrender to him alleged in-house NBC videotapes that reportedly show presidential-election-night interference with news operations by General Electric Co. chairman and CEO Jack Welch in support of then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush... NBC president and CEO Andrew Lack has repeatedly denied the Welch allegation, both in sworn House testimony Feb. 14 and in two letters to Waxman subsequent to his House Energy and Commerce appearance. But Waxman has kept pressing Lack and complaining that his denials have been evasive... The Waxman-Lack dispute could come to a head Tuesday. In a July 11 letter to Lack, Waxman requested that NBC review his questions a second time and report its finding by July 31. An NBC source was checking whether Lack would have anything more to say to Waxman by the deadline." Don't let up, Henry!

Following the NY Times expose on Republican absentee ballot fraud, Ari Fleischer told Americans to "move on." But according to Todd Gitlin, "Moveon.org called on Congress to censure Mr. Clinton before moving on, acknowledging the president's moral culpability while distinguishing it from legal culpability. By contrast, the current White House call to move on beyond the Bush campaign's tactics in Florida blames no one for the apparent failures of the Florida election system, preferring amnesia." Moreover, Bill Clinton ultimately took responsibility for his actions and apologized - while Bush refuses to even acknowledge that he stole the election, let alone apologize for committing the worst crime against Democracy in American history. When will the media demand an explanation from Bush?

About 6% of Chicago area ballots (123,000) lacked a recordable "for" for President in 2000 - twice as many as in 1996. As in Florida, the voters were initially blamed. But in May, the election equipment manufacturer, Election Data Corp. of CA, admitted that HALF of the plastic templates they sold were slightly off, which probably accounted for 1/3 (39,000) of the spoiled ballots. Company officials tried to keep this a secret, but the Chicago Tribune obtained it through an FOIA request. We're checking to see if this defective equipment was used in Florida...

FL "Secretary of State Katherine Harris won't allow computer investigators hired by several Florida newspapers to monitor the work of a computer scientist hired by her... A consortium of newspapers is seeking access to the hard drives of two computers at the Department of State used by two Republican strategists during Florida's famed election recount, which gave George W. Bush the presidency by 537 votes... Ramakrishna Gummadi, researcher with the computer science department at the University of California at Berkeley, said it is not difficult to erase material from a computer's hard drive and that, without constant monitoring of an inspection, 'you could lose data completely.'" Florida media, this is a RED ALERT! Don't let Harris SCRUB those hard drives!

Theft of the Presidency Day 257: Fraud in the Panhandle
27-Jul-01
Stolen Election 2000

Online Journal researchers Elizabeth Jordan and Oliver Dawshed have done a preliminary statistical analysis of Florida voting patterns. They conclude that the most likely site for election night tampering was north Florida, especially the Panhandle. Ballot spoilage in Escambia County was clearly systematic. Excess ballot spoilage alone accounted for about 500 net Bush votes. Minting ballots from overvotes, as Lukasiak's work suggests, amounted to perhaps another 200. In 11 other Republican counties (Bay, Bradford, Calhoun, Columbia, Dixie, Gulf, Hamilton, Jackson, Suwanee, Union, and Washington), voting patterns consistent with fraud were observed. Precincts in some counties had discard rates of over 20% of ballots cast. A simple model suggested that 7,100 ballots may have been destroyed in these 11 counties. Fraud has not yet been excluded in a half-dozen other counties. The evidence to suggest a statewide criminal investigation is compelling.

Bush Dreams of Dictatorship
27-Jul-01
Stolen Election 2000

On 12/18/00, "Bush declared If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator." During the campaign, Bush responded to Zack Exley's GWBush.com parody site by angrily declaring, "there ought to be limits to freedom." Now that Congress refuses to buckle to his will, he "joked" that "a dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier." Frankly, we don't find this "joke" the least bit funny from the man who STOLE the presidency, and still refuses to admit it. Since the Felonious Five control the Supreme Court, what would stand in the way of Bush actually declaring himself dictator? Bush should be universally condemned by the media for this "joke."

Theresa LePore designed the butterfly ballot that resulted in nearly 20,000 "overvotes" and cost Al Gore the presidency. Yet neither she, Katherine Harris, nor any other election official has been prosecuted - YET - for their misdeeds. But when someone played a joke on LePore and successfully registered a poodle, LePore goes running to the local prosecutor and threatens a felony indictment. Hey Theresa, why don't you go after the REAL criminals who stole the 2000 election?

In an interview with Anthony York of Salon, Rep. Peter Deutsch (D-FL) explained his ethics complaint against Rep. Steve Buyer (R-FL). Buyer used his position as chair of the House Armed Services Personnel Subcomittee to obtain the e-mail addresses and phone numbers of active duty sailors whose illegal votes had been disqualified. He then fed that information to the head of the Republican propaganda campaign to viciously portray Al Gore and the Democrats as anti-military. "My hope is that the investigators on the [House Ethics] committee can determine how information made its way from Congressman Buyer's office to the Florida Republican Party. What did occur was that the law was violated and that official resources were used for personal use. The question is, 'Who violated the law?' No one is denying that the information was used by the Republican Party of Florida…Whoever violated federal statutes hopefully will be dealt with in the appropriate manner."

Theft of the Presidency Day 249 (1): Steve Buyer (R-IN) Conspired With Tillie Fowler (R-FL) and Republican Operatives to Politicize the Military
19-Jul-01
Stolen Election 2000

On Monday, Rep. Peter Deutsch (D-FL) filed an ethics complaint against Rep. Steve Buyer (R-IN) for demanding e-mail addresses of active duty sailors for the Republican propaganda campaign to demonize Democrats over military absentee ballots. Now Buyer says he was acting on behalf of Rep. Tillie Fowler (R-FL). But Fowler was working with Rob Carter, the mastermind of the Republican propaganda campaign. We demand an ethics investigation of Fowler as well!

Terry Gross, host of "Fresh Air" on NPR, is one of the best interviewers on the radio. Gross interviewed NY Times reporters David Barstow and Don Van Natta Jr. at length about their recent expose on Bush's overseas military ballot fraud. GOP spinmeisters have insisted the 680 illegal ballots would NOT have affected the outcome of the election. But the reporters make clear that Gore would have won if either: a) all of the overseas ballots were thrown out, following previous court precedents involving tainted absentee ballots, or b) if Katherine Harris had given a similar "benefit of the doubt" to Palm Beach officials, whose 174 additional votes for Gore were rejected because Harris refused to accept them the following morning.

According to the NY Times, political henchmen J.M. Stipanovich and Adam Goodman illegally ran a Republican "war room" out of Secretary of State Katherine Harris' office, using office computers. The Times reported that Harris' lawyers "now say many of the records have been erased, a potential violation of Florida's public records law." According to the St. Petersburg Times, Harris now insists "no public records were erased," but she still refuses to let reporters examine the computers. What is Harris hiding? We demand the release of ALL of Katherine Harris' records about the stolen election!

During the military absentee ballot dispute, the Bush campaign viciously attacked Gore for briefly trying to disqualify illegal military ballots. According to E.J. Dionne, "What we now learn is that the Bush campaign wasn't defending all military ballots. It was defending them selectively, depending on whether they were cast in Republican or Democratic counties. The Times reports that on one day, 'in three South Florida counties, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach, boards rejected as illegal 362 of 572 overseas ballots.' The Times adds: 'Most -- including many military ballots -- were thrown out without a word of protest from Mr. Bush's lawyers.' Bush wasn't defending military voters. He was defending Republican voters." Bush owes Al Gore - and the nation - an apology, Big Time.

But The Anti-Bush Majority Is Alive and Kicking on the Internet
17-Jul-01
Activism

Even though 58% of Americans are still angry about the stolen election, the corporate media adamantly refuses to acknowledge our existence. But according to AlterNet, there "are now approximately 800 sites whose mission is to analyze, attack and especially ridicule the 43rd president of the United States." According to Bob Fertik of Democrats.com, these sites are just one manifestation of the "tremendous anger and frustration felt by an enormous amount of Americans" toward the White House. Check out some of the outstanding sites mentioned here!

Bob Kunst Will Run Against Jeb Bush to Expose the Stolen Election
17-Jul-01
Jeb Bush

Oral Majority's Bob Kunst has run twice for statewide office in Florida. Now Kunst is running in the 2002 Democratic primary for the opportunity to take on Jeb Bush and expose the Stolen Election. Speaking to Democrats in Cocoa Beach, Kunst declared "If you want a federal investigation of this High Treason, vote for Kunst! If you voted for Gore last time, do it again and vote for Kunst. If you want to impeach the U.S. Supreme Court Extremists, vote for Kunst!" Kunst also sent letters to Tom Daschle and John Ashcroft demanding an investigation of the crimes exposed by the NY Times.

According to Sunday's expose by the NY Times, Republicans ran an illegal "war room" out of Katherine Harris' office during the recount battle to steal the election. According to DNC spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri, Dems will subpoena Harris' records. "It's outrageous," said Palimeri. "The secretary of state was running a Republican war room out of her office with the presidency of the United States at stake? It's just outrageous. The media has become anesthetized to this type of activity from the Bush campaign and aren't paying as serious attention we think this story deserves." [Note to Salon: Bush's margin of victory was 537 votes ACCORDING TO HARRIS, but the Florida Supreme Court reduced that lead to 154 on 12/8. Subtract Bush's 292 illegal overseas votes, and Gore wins by 138.]

"The truth is that because election officials in Florida were so unprepared for so close a vote, we will never know who would have won the fair and legally mandated recount that the conservative Republican majority on the Supreme Court stepped in to prevent, lest their man end up on the losing end. But we do know, because of the Times reporting and previous evidence that augments it, that the Bush forces were unwilling to allow an honest accounting to take place... the Times has done a journalistic service in forcing us, once again, to face up to an ugly, but increasingly incontrovertible fact: The 2000 election was stolen; not from the hapless Gore and Lieberman ticket, but from the democratic process itself. We are all the poorer for it." So writes MSNBC columnist Eric Alterman.

On Sunday, the NY Times exposed a criminal conspiracy to steal the Presidency. But the review by the Washington Post deliberately avoids all mention of criminal activities. E-mail ombudsman@washpost.com and tell them to stop the coverup, and to start seriously investigating the criminal conspiracy in Washington and Florida to steal the Presidency.

In the wake of the NY Times expose, Democrats called for further investigations and possible prosecutions. In Washington, Rep. Peter Deutsch (D-FL) called for an ethics inquiry into Rep. Steve Buyer's (R-IN) politicization of the military. "It's shocking. It's scary. And it's also illegal and a violation of his trust as an elected official. When you think it can't get any more shocking, it gets more shocking." In Florida, Democratic state chair Bob Poe said "We have to look at trying to see if criminal action needs to be taken against Katherine Harris, particularly for the destruction of public records." Hey guys, don't make the mistake of treating the various crimes in isolation. Deal with the whole terrifying fact that there was a CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY TO STEAL THE PRESIDENCY!

Theft of the Presidency Day 246 (2): NY Times Editorial Board Trashes Its Own News Division
16-Jul-01
Stolen Election 2000

On Sunday, NY Times investigative reporters David Barstow and Don Van Natta Jr. exposed a comprehensive Republican plan - run from Katherine Harris' office - to steal the Presidential election by misleading, pressuring, and even intimidating county election officials into counting ILLEGAL Republican absentee ballots. This plan included ILLEGALLY using Congressional offices to ILLEGALLY enlist active duty military personnel into a partisan Republican propaganda campaign. This conspiracy by top officials to use their power to break numerous laws constitutes FRAUD - and represents the most heinous attack on American Democracy since the Watergate break-in. Yet the Times' editorial board reduces this FRAUD to Democrats being "outhustled and outmaneuvered," as though crystal-clear election laws - and laws preventing the politicization of the military - were simply a game. This is an outrage! E-mail letters@nytimes.com and tell them to "Respect their Reporters and Call a Fraud a Fraud!"

Get ready for the Next Battle in the Republican Spin and Propaganda Exaggeration War (SPEW)
16-Jul-01
Stolen Election 2000

In his often-reprinted "Coup d'Etat: A Practical Handbook," U. S. intelligence expert Edward Luttwak says that lack of reaction on the part of the people is all a coup needs to stay in power: "This lack of reaction is the key to the victory of the coup..." In his discussion of how coup leaders and beneficiaries exploit their "monopoly" of the mass media to discourage resistance to the coup, Luttwak speaks of making constant use of the "motif of isolation." This strategy must emphasize that "isolated" resistance is the product of the obstinacy of a few misguided or dishonest individuals. Furthermore, it must emphasize that law and order have been re-established which "should have the effect of making resistance appear as dangerous and useless." Now, considering these strategies, look at the White House reaction to the New York Times's findings.

As with previous exposes about the Stolen Election, NY Times editors twisted their conclusions to deny the facts uncovered by their own reporters. The Times says it "found no evidence of fraud" - but its reporters found that Republicans "mounted a legal and public relations campaign to persuade canvassing boards in Bush strongholds to waive the state's election laws." This was fraud - a conspiracy to persuade election officials to break the law. The conspiracy included threatening election officials with federal prosecution if they failed to count illegal ballots. And it included illegal contacts with active duty military personnel to politicize the recount and demonize the Democrats. Worst of all, this conspiracy operated out of Katherine Harris' office - the person who was responsible for ENFORCING Florida's election law! E-mail letters@nytimes.com and tell them to publish the truth - that Bush won through FRAUD!

Theft of the Presidency Day 245 (5): Jeb Helped Engineer the Stolen Election - and Lied About It
15-Jul-01
Stolen Election 2000

"When it became clear that the disputed Florida election could deliver the White House to his brother, Gov. Jeb Bush immediately recused himself from any official role in the recount, promising to avoid even the 'slightest appearance of a conflict of interest.' ... Despite that hands-off policy, the Florida governor's office in Tallahassee made 95 telephone calls to the George W. Bush presidential campaign, its advisors, lawyers and staffers during the 36-day recount period, records show... The governor visited the state GOP headquarters in Tallahassee that functioned as the Bush campaign command center for the recount at least once, for example. He also dialed into at least one conference call with campaign operatives, aides said." The bottom line is this: Jeb Bush used his power as Governor to help engineer the stolen election - and continues to lie about his role. We demand an investigation!

Over Thanksgiving, House Republicans led by Steve Buyer (R-IN) - then Chairman of the House Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee - manufactured a campaign of lies and slander against Democrats. Their campaign included actions that were clearly and unambiguously illegal. First, "It is a cornerstone of American military tradition that the armed services remain apolitical. Military regulations prohibit service members from participating in political activities." But Buyer enlisted service members in a campaign to attack Democrats. Second, "House ethics rules and federal law forbid Congressional officials to perform political work with government resources or on government time." But Buyer engineered the attack on Democrats from his government office on government time. We demand the prosecution of Steve Buyer and everyone else involved in this despicable campaign!

A 6-month investigation by the NY Times reveals that the Bush campaign and Florida Republicans mounted a massive legal and PR blitz to count ILLEGAL overseas absentee ballots from Republican counties, while disqualifying all questionable ballots in Democratic areas. The effort included illegal enlistment of active military personnel in a PR campaign to demonize Democrats, and the intimidation of election officials into counting illegal votes. This criminal effort was run out of a Tallahassee "war room" in the office of Katherine Harris, which in itself was criminal. Now Harris' computers have been "scrubbed," adding "obstruction of justice" and "coverup" to the list of Republican crimes. The overseas absentee effort added 292 votes to Bush's margin, which were ultimately decisive - without these votes, the Florida Supreme Court would have declared Gore the winner by 138 votes. We demand Bush's resignation!

According to an investigation by Democrats.com, a close analysis of the Miami Herald's overvote data provides overwhelming evidence of the fraudulent counting of absentee ballots in heavily Republican Escambia County. George W. Bush beat Al Gore in Escambia by a nearly 2 to 1 margin at the polls (62%-38%), but won absentees by nearly 3 to 1 (73%-27%). The "smoking gun" for fraud is the fact that the Herald data contains not ONE single overvoted ballot in which there were only two marks for President, which is inconceivable when data from comparable counties is analyzed. There is clearly sufficient evidence to launch a criminal investigation into the way in which ballots were counted in Escambia County. A criminal investigation would fall under the jurisdiction of Florida's Attorney General or Escambia County's state attorney. But there are also important grounds for the federal government to launch its own investigation under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

According to an investigation by Democrats.com, a close analysis of the Miami Herald's overvote data provides overwhelming evidence of the fraudulent counting of absentee ballots in heavily Republican Escambia County. George W. Bush beat Al Gore in Escambia by a nearly 2 to 1 margin at the polls (62%-38%), but won absentees by nearly 3 to 1 (73%-27%). The "smoking gun" for fraud is the fact that the Herald data contains not ONE single overvoted ballot in which there were only two marks for President, which is inconceivable when data from comparable counties is analyzed. There is clearly sufficient evidence to launch a criminal investigation into the way in which ballots were counted in Escambia County. A criminal investigation would fall under the jurisdiction of Florida's Attorney General or Escambia County's state attorney. But there are also important grounds for the federal government to launch its own investigation under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Democrats.com member Sue Smith has created a wonderful line of Election 2000 Commemorative Soaps. Check out Whole LOTT-a Balls Mississippi Cornball Soap... Tex-a$$ Dope on a Rope, which absolutely reeks of unrefined crude oil and Bush-it... Big Dick soap, guaranteed to give your bathtime a massive jolt of electrifying proportions... and more!

An Open Letter To Attorneys General Of The United States, And The State Of Florida
29-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

The evidence of deliberate and conscious acts on the part of Duval County Supervisor of Elections John Stafford designed to disenfranchise black voters continues to mount. The data presented amounts to a prima facie case of criminal disenfranchisement--the laws detailing the proper method of counting votes is clear, the law detailing the proper criteria for counting votes is clear. Stafford had an absolute legal obligation to count ALL the votes in his county, and there is an absolute presumption under the law that he knew what the law said.

"A former member of Congress launched a campaign to impeach the five conservative Supreme Court justices who voted to stop the presidential ballot recount in Florida last year -- but admits it's a long shot. Charles Porter, an 82-year-old attorney in Eugene, said the Supreme Court ruling was so clearly influenced by politics that under the Constitution there may be grounds to impeach the justices for bias…The chairman of the [Oregon Democratic] party's Executive Committee, Jim Edmunson, agreed Saturday to sponsor the proposal for a vote at the party's central committee meeting on July 22. If it passes, the state party could recommend other states pass similar resolutions. " As Edmundson says, "the idea is to draw attention to the problem." Ultimately, only the US Congress can impeach the judges. Porter stated that "a lot of people think the Supreme Court is all powerful. Well, they are if they're handing down decisions. But not if they're violating the Constitution."

"Five elderly Clevelanders last fall entrusted their votes to an election worker whose job was to assist them in marking their ballots. Unbeknownst to them, their votes for Al Gore were marked as votes for George Bush, according to the Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office. Now the man accused of not recording their votes according to their wishes is under indictment. John V. Jackson, who was a temporary worker at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, was indicted yesterday on felony charges that he tampered with ballots in last fall's General Election." Jackson could get 18 months in prison for each count - 7.5 years total. In that case, Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris should get about 1 MILLION years for all of the ballot tampering under their watch!

The New York Times continued its disinformation campaign on the Stolen Election with an editorial that wrongly attacks and belittles the work of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Tell the Times to tell the truth: letters@nytimes.com

Why the Popular Vote Mattered - And Still Does
17-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

If three or four conscientious Republican electors had known before December 18, the day the Electoral College met, that the margin of Al Gore's victory in the popular vote was greater than John F. Kennedy's in 1960 and Richard Nixon's in 1968, would it have made a difference? Would some electors have switched their vote to support Gore, the people's choice for President of the United States?That's a question that has haunted me for the last six months.

Who Was the 'Little Bird' in the Florida Felon Purge?
17-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

Nixon had his "Plumbers." Woodward and Bernstein had "Deep Throat." Lucianne Goldberg had her "Elves." And at the heart of the Florida Felon Purge conspiracy is a "Little Bird" who told George Bruder of Database Technologies to multiply his initial contract bid - by 100! Who was the "Little Bird"? Was it someone who wanted to quietly and invisibly use the felon purge process to disenfranchise black voters by the thousands? Was it someone close to Jeb or George?? Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth, it's time for you to do your job and launch a thorough investigation!

In a new advertisement assailing the nation's failure to ensure all citizens the right to vote, the American Civil Liberties Union is pointing to "a day in American history when black people counted less than white people." That day, the new ACLU ad says, was November 7, 2000. The ad cites the example of Jermaine Terry, a Florida man who was told that his name had been taken off the voter list when he arrived at the polls last Election Day. One particularly troubling aspect of state laws that disenfranchise ex-felons, the ACLU said, is their impact on black men. In Florida, 31 percent of adult black males cannot vote as a result of felony disenfranchisement, almost three times greater than percentage of black males disenfranchised nationwide. "Every vote should be counted accurately, every vote should be counted equally, and no one should be denied the right to vote based on the color of his or her skin," said ACLU President Nadine Strossen.

Get Ready for the Next Battle in the Republican Spin and Propaganda Exaggeration War (SPEW) - Part I
15-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

In its recent book, "The Miami Herald Report: Democracy Held Hostage," the Herald points to machine problems as the real unsung culprit. I had reached the same conclusion after having the opportunity to look at ballots: machine problems played the major role in ballot spoilage that resulted in enough undercounted ballots to have given Gore the election. Let's "move on" to determining if rampant machine problems were a reflection of benign indifference and incompetence - or felonious actions on the part of election officials.

Shrub has NEVER discussed how he stole the Presidency - and the US media has never asked him to do so. But during a photo op with Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson - with the cameras running - Bush admitted "I wasn't exactly a landslide winner this time around." Hey George - you weren't the winner at all! Referring to the successful Clinton-Gore administrations, he also admitted, "I was running against peace and prosperity and incumbency." Hey George - why didn't you have the "character" and "integrity" to give Clinton and Gore the credit they deserved during your campaign? And when will the US media ask Bush to explain how he can be President if he lost the popular vote nationally - and lost Florida too?

Still Mad About Florida? Welcome to the 'SilenCED Majority'
14-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

This is the first poll we've seen that asked how people feel about Florida (scroll down to question 19). "When you think about how the votes for president were counted in Florida this past year, would you say you are more: Angry, or more (58%); Satisfied (28%); Neither (11%); Not sure (3%). Break that down by party, and you discover that 81% of Democrats are "angry or more" - but also 58% of Independents and 36% of Republicans. Amazingly, this is a FOX poll. Remember Nixon's famous "Silent Majority"? Those of us who won't "get over it" are the SilenCED Majority!

State House Democratic Leader Lois Frankel said the Civil Rights Commission's report provided "enough ammunition to justify investigations into voting irregularities" in Florida. Frankel sent a letter requesting formal investigations to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth, Gov. Jeb Bush, Secretary of State Katherine Harris and legislative leaders. The Justice Department claims to be investigating, but John Ashcroft's record of denying civil rights to blacks as Governor of Missouri should disqualify him from any investigation.

On June 11th, Jan Lentz -- one of the Florida Four arrested in Tampa -- was interviewed on the Meria Heller Show about the first amendment violations of Jan and other anti-Bush protestors. On June 12th, Robert Kunst of the Oral Majority spoke more on these violations, the stolen election and future protests. Also interviewed was Maurice Rosas, another of the Florida Four arrested in Tampa for an 8 1/2 x 11" sign! On June 14th, Meria will be interviewing Phillip Berg, the attorney petitioning for both disbarment of the Supremes and an investigation of Voter Fraud in 2000. All shows are broadcast live and then archived at the website. On June 20th, Lou Posner of Voter March will be interviewed about the Pro Democracy Convention in Philadelphia.

If You Set Aside The Voters, Bush Won the Presidency
12-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

NY Times columnist Gail Collins writes, "Explaining the Bush administration's enthusiasm for nuclear power plants, Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill recently said: 'If you set aside Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, the safety record of nuclear is really very good.' Mr. O'Neill has an ear for the Bushian dialectic, having recently spent a great deal of time beating the drum for the tax-cut package, which was a great idea if you set aside the fact that it wouldn't stimulate the economy and we couldn't afford it. His boss is off on his first trip to Europe, where this administration is very popular, if you forget about questions of defense, foreign policy, capital punishment and the environment... [Bush] is the guy with the mandate, if you set aside the irregularities in Florida and the fact that he lost the popular vote." Right on, Gail!

When we asked what our readers thought about the Florida election debacle, we were thrilled by the outpouring of letters! It is plain that people are angry - and getting angrier by the day! The next step? Action! So stay tuned...

"Some state Republican officials, including Gov. Jeb Bush, chose to dismiss the report out of hand because commission chairwoman Mary Frances Berry and some other members supported Democrat Al Gore's presidential campaign. That's not good enough. The report's specific findings and recommendations deserve a detailed response from the governor, Secretary of State Katherine Harris and other relevant state officials... The report also details significant flaws in the Florida vote that should be familiar to anyone who has paid attention since November. It reinforces the evidence that thousands of Floridians were denied their right to vote as a result of outdated equipment, inaccurate voter lists, inadequate access and other flaws. The report also documents the extent to which poor and minority voters were disproportionately disenfranchised." So writes the St. Petersburg Times.

"In case you missed it, the recent presidential election in Florida was stolen. There are many who believe otherwise, and for those apologists and the truly misinformed, I have three words: "Get over it!" It shouldn't take a rocket scientist or a critical report by the U.S. Civil Rights Commission to confirm that the disenfranchisement of Florida's voters last November fell more harshly on black voters... The commission, as the report correctly stated, didn't find conclusive evidence that Bush, Harris or any other member of the Bush administration conspired to produce disenfranchisement. However, anyone who's lived in Florida and has kept his or her head out of the sand knows state leaders didn't need to hold a meeting to produce the desired results. They did nothing. That's what the report said." So writes Sun-Sentinel columnist Douglas C. Lyons.

The 2000 Election Catastrophe: Where Do We Go From Here - MORE Letters from Our Readers!!!
11-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

When we asked readers to tell us what they thought about "getting over" the stolen election and what should be done to right this huge, history-bending wrong, the response was immediate and powerful! It is obvious that the "indifference" of the public is a myth intentionally created by the corporate media to build a wall of smoke and mirrors around their phony president. But your letters unmask the lie and show that a massive ground swell of rebellion against the crimes committed by Bush and the Supreme Court is gaining momentum! Power BACK to the People!!!

Grandmother Suni continued, "With that, all H__L broke loose. A police officer came and told us we had to leave. We said we had a right to be there. We said other people were holding signs much bigger than ours. Large poster signs flashed all around the stadium for Bush. We had a right to be there as well as anyone else. We had tickets. We didn't do anything wrong. Why were they taking us away - in handcuffs? All we did was show our small signs. I just couldn't believe it."

The Herald's review of the Florida overvote is based on such erroneous data that the conclusions are completely unreliable. More significant, however, is the marked bias in the errors; they consistently increase the likelihood of a greater net gain in votes for George W. Bush than for Al Gore. The Herald consistently misrepresents its own data and consistently skews the numbers to create a "recount victory" for Bush in Florida... the Miami Herald has abdicated its journalistic duty to present the unbiased truth. Their "inconclusive" results on the recount have been achieved by using false data. Some votes were doublecounted; hundreds of others were omitted. Unable to sort out the confusing spin of numbers upon numbers presented in the Herald report, the average citizen will not question their accuracy or the validity of the conclusion. But if you follow the ball, bouncing all over Florida, the truth emerges. The conclusion that Al Gore got the most votes in Florida is the only way to explain the Bush team's desire to halt the recount, and the Supreme Court's willingness to risk its reputation by ordering the halt.

When It Comes to Disenfranchising Voters, Trent Lott is an Expert
09-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

"Once but alas no more to be Senate majority leader Trent Lott kicked up quite a stir last weekend when he wrote to his Republican colleagues that the Democrats' control of the Senate 'lacks the moral authority of a mandate from the voters.' Some huffy folks rushed to remind Lott that the same might be said of the current White House occupant, a second-place finisher in the popular vote who reached the Oval Office by way of a controversial Supreme Court ruling. Hush your mouths! The Republican minority leader is eminently qualified to opine on the matter of politicians who wield power in Washington without the moral authority of a mandate. After all, Trent Lott hails from Mississippi -- a state that wrote the book on morally bankrupt political systems." So writes Washington Post columnist Colbert King.

Constitutional Expert Concludes that Supreme Court Intervention in Election Derailed U.S. Constitution - a Crisis that Must be Resolved
09-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

"There is a potential scandal here, of a magnitude greater than Watergate or anything Bill Clinton did," says Constitutional expert David Kairys of Temple University. By opposing hand recounts, says Kairys, the Bush campaign knowingly pushed their case to the conservative, highly bush-biased justices on the Supreme Court. "If a liberal Supreme Court majority handed Gore the election in similar circumstances, we'd be in impeachment hearings now for Gore and the majority justices and construction crews might be rebuilding the Supreme Court...We had a constitutional crisis, and it was Bush v. Gore. History will not be kind." Alright, Daschle, et al, it's YOUR TURN to initiate hearings - hearings that may repair some of the damage. What do YOU think? Send your comments to bustingout2001@hotmail.com!

The 2000 Election Catastrophe: Where Do We Go From Here? Our Readers Speak Out
09-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

Are you sick of hearing "Just get over it" from every Republican drone and conservative media pundit you encounter? They just don't get it - a CRIME has been committed here. No one has asked us to "just get over" the Oklahoma bombing or any other crime of national proportions. Even some third world dictatorial countries we assume ourselves to be superior to wonder why we have allowed this travesty to continue without complaint. But Bush and company want everyone to pretend it's business as usual and, outrageously, the press and our own representatives in Washington are joining in the masquerade! Here's your chance to give the world your take on this crime.

TJ Walker Interviews Bob Fertik
08-Jun-01
media

TJ Walker is an outstanding liberal commentator who hosts his own national talk radio network. This week, Walker interviewed Bob Fertik about Democrats.com. He also interviewed Danny Schecter of MediaChannel.org, who is producing a documentary on the Stolen Election. Check it out!

"This is the bottom line. Florida voters who were entitled to vote, who wanted to vote, who tried to vote, had their vote taken away. Republican leaders can try to distract the nation by sniping at the way the preliminary report of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights was leaked. They can throw misleading labels at it, claiming its harsh criticism of Florida state elections officials shows partisanship. But the misdirection won't work, because the facts can't be denied. Thousands of Florida voters were stripped of their rights. A staggeringly disproportionate number of those were poor, elderly or black." So writes the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

Theft of the Presidency Day 208 (2): New York Times Declares War on Civil Rights Commission
06-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

The New York Times abandoned all pretense of objectivity and launched an outright attack on the US Civil Rights Commission for daring to expose Florida's disenfranchisement of black voters. The news section of the Times adamantly refuses to report on any of the HUNDREDS of grassroots protests against the thieves who stole the Presidency - George W Bush, Dick Cheney, Jeb Bush, and the Supreme Court. But the Times can't ignore the report of an official government body - the US Civil Rights Commission. So instead they are engaging in a direct partisan effort to discredit the report. Once again, the Times news pages are showing their complete and total enslavement to Karl Rove and the Republicans. This comes as no surprise to anyone who actually visits the Times - right inside the front door is a wall with a massive photo of Bush taking the oath of office. This sends an unmistakable message from the bosses to the reporters: Bush is OUR president, and we will NOT question his legitimacy.

"Florida's conduct of the 2000 presidential election was marked by 'injustice, ineptitude and inefficiency' that unfairly penalized minority voters, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has concluded in a report that criticizes top state officials -- particularly Gov. Jeb Bush and Secretary of State Katherine Harris -- for allowing disparate treatment of voters. Unequal access to modern voting equipment and 'overzealous efforts' to purge state voter lists most harshly affected African Americans... Fifty-four percent of votes rejected during the Florida election were cast by black voters... African Americans accounted for 11 percent of voters statewide... African Americans were nearly 10 times as likely as whites to have their ballots rejected. Poor counties populated by minorities were more likely to use voting systems that rejected larger percentages of ballots than more affluent counties." So reports the Washington Post.

Back in March, Nightline blamed Duval County's black voters for their overvotes - without ever reporting how the ballot instructions that said to VOTE EVERY PAGE - while the Presidential candidates were spread over TWO PAGES. Tonight (June 5) they are doing a show on the Civil Rights Commission's stinging report about the "injustice, ineptitude, and inefficiency" of Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris. Of course, Republicans don't want to talk about how Jeb and Katherine STOLE the election. So Karl Rove concocted this bogus story about the Commission's report being leaked - and the massive Republican propaganda machine has made this topic #1 on the talk shows. Once again, Nightline is fronting for Karl Rove, instead of reporting the REAL news - the damning conclusions of the Commission's report. Tell Nightline (niteline@abc.com) to report the news, not the Republican propaganda.

The St. Petersburg Times reviewed the various recount efforts, and recognized that Gore could have won. But they give the benefit of the doubt to Bush, citing the GOP canard that "some Florida Panhandle residents might have skipped voting because television networks projected Gore as the winner of the state before polls closed." This is the GOP version of the "stupid voter" theory - that Panhandle voters were so stupid they believed the TV networks rather than the instructions from their election boards. Once you get beyond the clear ballots themselves, any further "theorizing" about the outcome is dominated by the 50,000 vote margin in overvotes that Gore lost because of faulty or illegal ballot designs and outdated voting equipment.

Many Illegal Military Ballots Were Counted in Florida
03-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

After Election Day, Republicans screamed incessantly about Democratic efforts to make sure overseas military ballots were legal, including being postmarked before Election Day. According to the Washington Post, Bush received 17 votes that were postmarked AFTER Election Day in 4 counties alone. “Matthew Hendrickson, a sailor aboard the cruiser USS Ticonderoga, mailed his overseas absentee ballot from Puerto Rico on Nov. 13, six days after the Election Day deadline,” the Post reported. “He knew the presidential race was undecided and he wanted Bush to win. Records show that Duval County included his vote in its results.” Scores more were counted after arriving without postmarks in elections offices between Nov. 8 and Nov. 17, the deadline for overseas absentee ballots to be received.” The overseas military ballot scandal was just another big lie from Karl Rove - but a particularly vicious and scary one, because it was designed to portray the Democratic Party as anti-military.

Meria Heller Interviews Greg Palast & Bob Kunst
01-Jun-01
media

On May 30, Meria Heller intereviewed Gregory Palast of London BBC TV & London Observer. Palast discussed the NON energy crisis in the US and California; Bush's paybacks to his oil buddies and supporters; the WTO and the stolen election. On May 31, Meria opened her show with Robert Kunst of the Oral Majority with the latest on the protests against the stolen election and what you can do to make your voice heard. Listen to the archives!

Theft of the Presidency: Day 78 (2)
01-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

According to the Orlando Sentinel, a critical factor producing overvotes was a ballot design that split the 10 Presidential candidates over 2 columns - called a "wraparound" ballot. This design violated a "cardinal rule" of ballot design - never to split candidates in a single race by column or by page. The "wraparound" ballot was created by Katherine Harris' office, and was adopted by 14 of the 15 optical-scan counties examined by the Sentinel. This design error cost Gore 564 votes - enough to erase his 537-vote defeat.

The Washington Post has made a significant contribution to the unfinished investigation of Florida's stolen election. The Post documents various important instances of official misconduct, including: 1) 18 of 67 counties broke Florida law by never performing the mandatory machine recount; 2) Osceola County broke Federal law by not printing Spanish ballots; 3) Katherine Harris' office designed the confusing "wraparound" ballot; 4) "countless" motor voter registration forms were not processed; 5) Escambia and Manatee counties simply disabled the "instant check" feature on their optical scan equipment, causing huge error rates; 26 counties broke Florida law by not counting overvotes with write-ins; 6) Bush gained at least 176 votes among illegal military absentee ballots without postmarks and other requirements. The Post points the finger at Katherine Harris, who utterly failed to carry out her legal responsibility to "maintain uniformity" in the conduct of elections.

The Washington Post has joined the small group of US newspapers that have suddenly discovered the fraudulent felon purge. The Post adds two new bits of info. 1) A clear warning from ChoicePoint to Florida officials on 5/26/2000: "Let's remember there is a liability issue in our erroneously identifying individuals as felons or deceased. We need to be very careful in who we label as what. If we are unsure the default should be to NOT label them as anything." 2) A confirmation from Clay Roberts that the state knowingly and intentionally disenfranchised voters by ordering a sloppy match. "The decision was made to do the match in such a way as not to be terribly strict on the name," Roberts said, using the passive "mistakes were made" voice. Hey Clay - EXACTLY WHO made that decision - and WHO was consulted? Whoever they are belong in jail for conspiring to deprive citizens of their civil rights - and to steal the Presidency.

Here's a great suggestion from a number of our subscribers: if you want a fun and effective way to protest the Republican tax giveaway, send your 'refunds' (which are actually advances against next year's tax credit) to Democrats.com! We will use your contributions in our unceasing efforts to expose the truth about George W. Bush and the Stolen Election - and for our ongoing pledge campaign to
sweep all Republicans out of office. So make a contribution, and send a note to the Republican Party (info@rnc.org) telling them what you're doing with their refund. A number of you have already done so, and the word we're getting is that the Republicans are not too pleased!

The Republicans and the Wall Street Journal are screaming like stuck pigs because the Democrats are threatening to employ the same hardball tactics invented by the Republicans in their all our war against President Clinton. Well, it's about time. What do you think avoiding a complete roadblock of judicial appointments is worth to the Bush Administration? If they get their judges we ought to demand a little justice to go along with them.

Here's the report from Mark Hull-Richter of the Southern California chapter of Democrats.com: "Democrats.com and the San Diego County Democratic Club organized a Democratic protest of Bush's appearance at Camp Pendleton this morning outside the Harbor gate. A few Greens, Socialists and individuals from other groups joined the Democrats. People carried signs addressing issues that included the stolen election, criticism of the Bush's so-called "energy policy," Bush's connections with the energy industry and his illegitimacy. 10 Democratic children were present and actively involved. 10 year old Natasha Hull-Richter acted as the group's spokesperson as she led a chant of "Gore won Florida, Bush go home, Gore won Florida, Nazi go home!" over her megaphone. Reporters from local television stations and newspapers circulated through the crowd conducting interviews and filming the activity. The response from most of the drivers passing by, including many Marines, was largely positive."

Gore campaign manager Donna Brazile said, "There was a systematic disenfranchisement of people of color and poor people. I think in all the years I've spent organizing, I've never seen anything like it." Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) said something went awry with the felons list, even if it could not be proved. "You won't find any memos. This kind of documentation is hard to come by. It doesn't lend itself to any kind of scrutiny." Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) said "There was a deliberate, systematic effort to weed out all possible African-American voters and to use this thing about people being felons, sending out mailings. The whole thing was a deliberate effort to suppress the black vote... There's no question. There's a long history of the Republican Party doing this. They knew there was going to be massive input from black voters in Florida during this election, so they wanted to find a way to suppress this pent-up feeling on the part of the black electorate in Florida to turn out."

No doubt afraid of massive lawsuits for disenfranchising at least 1,100 voters - and helping Bush steal the Presidency - ChoicePoint is pointing the finger at Florida officials. ChoicePoint "wanted to compare its felons lists with several other databases, including property tax records, to correct any inaccuracies. But the state of Florida did not let the company do so." ChoicePoint also "recommended to the state that county elections supervisors undergo training to help them work with the felons database. Florida turned down the offer." Clay Roberts, director of Florida's Division of Elections, says these actions would not have prevented voter disenfranchisement. Tell that to a jury, Clay!

Under contract with Florida election officials, ChoicePoint "produced a list of 42,389 'probable' and 'possible' felons before last year's election. The list identified thousands of legal voters as criminals, forcing them to prove their innocence before they could cast a ballot." 6,500 of these "felons" were not exact matches - due to instructions from state elections lawyer Emmett "Bucky" Mitchell, who belongs in jail. 5,400 appeals were filed, and over 2,500 were upheld. But "at least 108 law-abiding people were purged from the voter rolls as suspected criminals, only to be cleared after the election... Florida officials cut from the rolls 996 people convicted of crimes in other states, though they should have been allowed to vote" - due to instructions from Janet Keels, head of the Office of Executive Clemency, who also belongs in jail. The Post's data is incomplete, so the 1,100 tally is low - and the real total could still be in the "thousands." But even 1,100 votes could have allowed Al Gore to eclipse Bush's 537-vote margin.

Assessing the now-mainstream reports of the false felon purge, the San Francisco Examiner went straight to the point. "The whole episode smells awfully fishy and does little to assuage the suspicion among Democrats that Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and other state officials pulled some serious strings to keep presumed Gore supporters from voting. The emphasis on butterfly ballots, overvotes, undervotes, and dimpled chads in the wake of the Florida election fiasco wasn't the smoking gun in the 2000 election after all. It turns out that a professed effort to purge voter rolls of felons, which instead resulted in law-abiding Americans having their right to vote stolen from them, swung the deal." We demand an investigation!

"To the Senate: thoroughly investigate all the voting irregularities, alleged fraud, intimidation, and criminal acts against voters in the 2000 election by state officials, police, election boards and/or their workers, and individuals, whether they be government employees or not - not only in the state of Florida, but in other states where such acts were reported as well... In the event it is determined that criminal actions had been committed, we further petition the Honorable Senate to press charges against any and all such persons responsible. If criminal charges are brought against high-ranking public officials, we demand the Senate, along with the House of Representatives, initiate impeachment proceedings immediately upon learning of such criminal actions." Sign the petition!

'The Rape of Democracy' Is a Movie Waiting to be Made
23-May-01
Stolen Election 2000

Imagine Vincent Bugliosi, author of the new best-seller "The Betrayal of America," as the chief prosecutor in "The Rape of Democracy,"
a film about the infamous Election 2000 Coup and the betrayal of America
by a junta of 5 black-robed Republican judges. If we put our imaginations to work, perhaps this movie could be made...

Five months after investigative reporter Greg Palast broke the Florida felon purge story in Salon.com, a mainstream US media outlet has finally covered the story. The report by Lisa Getter in the Los Angeles Times adds no new facts, and fails to examine the legal or political implications of this scandal. But the story proves what we have been saying all along:
that Florida election officials illegally deprived thousands of voters of their sacred right to vote - and these voters were disproportionately black and Democratic. A crime was committed, and we demand the prosecution of those responsible!

Why We Must Remember - and Protest - the Stolen Election
21-May-01
Activism

"Last week a new friend of mine, a senior woman in a nearby town, wore a pin with the Dubya picture from the Time cover and the words, 'We are f---ed.' I began to think of our dilemma in the stark terms of being raped, again and again, and of Bush doing the mindless holding down so that his buddies could have their way with us and our planet. That sense of powerlessness can be hopelessly frustrating and enraging. I wondered how long I would be able to sit openly in the sun, on the green grass, on a gorgeous day, with hundreds of others listening to free, defiant, confrontational, uplifting, culture-shifting, 'will you wake, for pity sake?' speech that calls for the Second American Revolution and the overthrow of this heinously illegitimate pretense of a government, before that government carried me away." So writes Dianne L in MakeThemAccountable.com.

McVeigh Gets 2nd Chance, Gore Doesn't
17-May-01
Stolen Election 2000

"Consider two big news headlines from last week: 'FBI failed to deliver 3,000 pages of documentation to McVeigh lawyers.'
'Florida election errors cost Gore the election.' Guess which headline created a stir that led to talk of reopening the case at hand? Here's a hint: It wasn't the one involving the question of whether the choice of the American people for president was reflected in the results of the Nov. 7, 2000, election." So writes John Nichols in the Capital Times of Madison, WI.

"We, the undersigned, understand that it is the policy of the United Nations to investigate national elections in any country where there is evidence of vote-tampering, corruption, partisan impropriety, political coup, or religious/ethnic discrimination. We would like to request that the United Nations please initiate an investigation of the 2000 Presidential election in the United States of America." Sign the petition!

It's VoterMarch Time
17-May-01
Democrats.com Events

The Voter Rights March on May 19 is quickly approaching. This is the big day for protesting the Stolen Election and demanding far-reaching election reform. There will be major rallies in Washington DC and San Francisco. Hurry up and buy your bus or plane tickets! If you simply can't get there, listen to live coverage from http://radioleft.com

The Betrayal of America: How the Supreme Court Undermined the Constitution and Chose Our President
16-May-01
Stolen Election 2000

During the course of American history, wrongful events have occurred that challenged the very core of who we are as a people; and certain Americans have stood up and spoken out against these wrongs: Tom Paine, Edward R. Murrow, Daniel Ellsberg. Now Vincent Bugliosi takes his place in this special pantheon of patriots with his powerful, brilliant, and courageous expose of a crime committed by the highest court in the land. When an article he wrote on this theft of the presidency appeared in The Nation magazine, it drew the largest outpouring of letters and e-mail in the magazine's 136-year history, tapping a deep reservoir of outrage. The original article has been turned into a book, and backed by amplifications and court document citations: it makes for fascinating, chilling reading. Let's make this #1 on Amazon!

Jeb is facing the end of his political career - which could bring down brother George as well, by allowing a future Democratic governor to expose the truth about the stolen election of 2000. To bury the truth, Jeb is doing what Bushes do best - a massive scrubbing operation. Plan A was to prevent the story from ever being published - but Democrats.com helped foil that plan. Plan B was to attack the Democratic Party for being the source of the rumors - but Democrats.com foiled that plan too, because we're totally independent of the party. Plan C is to attack any news outlet covering the story - which is why Vanity Fair editor Doug Stumpf scrubbed the affair from David McCullough's upcoming profile of Jeb, why Jeb's scrubbers threatened the supermarket tabloid Globe (which has a very suggestive photo taken in April), and why WPOW-FM's Bo Griffin got a "spooky" call from the Governor's office, demanding to know her source. (Kudos to Howard Kurtz for acknowledging Democrats.com's role!)

Hey Jeb - We Will NEVER Get Over It!
14-May-01
Jeb Bush

Before he started his victory lap last week, symbolically signing Florida's new election reform law for the TV cameras, Gov. Jeb Bush was asked about media recounts of last year's presidential ballots. "Well, I think they ought to get over it," Bush told FOX News. Hey Jeb - of course you want us to get over it! Because if we file criminal charges against you for stealing the Presidency, your next residence might be the State Penitentiary. So read our lips - we will NEVER get over the stolen election.

NYC Activists Protest USA Today, Associated Press, and New York Times
13-May-01
Activism

A small but spunky band of NYC activists protested the media's dishonest and biased coverage of the Stolen Election. We started at USA Today, which partnered with the Miami Herald and wrote the most distorted analysis. We then went to the Associated Press, whose biased story was picked up by media outlets around the world. We ended at the New York Times, which has decided that the truth about the Stolen Election of 2000 Gore is not "fit to print." Along the way, we waved our signs at tens of thousands of tourists from around the world, most of whom were completely unaware of the stolen election. And we handed out flyers for the Voter March on May 19 - we'll see you there!

We have waited 185 days
for all of the votes to be counted. Now we know the truth: Al Gore won
Florida. That means Al Gore, not George W. Bush, is the legitimate
President of the United States. On Saturday, Democrats.com will join with our pro-Democracy allies in New York City to protest the media distortions at USA Today, the Associated Press, and the New York Times. We are also calling for Bush to resign. Organize a local protest!

Republicans Leaving their Party in Droves over Stolen Election
10-May-01
Stolen Election 2000

Here's a story the right-wing media won't cover: "Democrats have gained more than six times as many new voters as Republicans in Palm Beach County in the six months since the Nov. 7 presidential election. Including new registrants and party-switchers, Democrats have added 5,663 voters since George W. Bush and Al Gore appeared on the butterfly ballot. Republicans have added 926 voters in that time. The number of voters registered with no party or minor parties has increased by 4,982. A total of 3,996 voters have changed party affiliation since Nov. 7, with Republicans seeing a net loss of 372 voters in the shuffle and Democrats a net gain of 676. Switchers included 782 Republicans who defected to the Democratic Party and another 370 who switched from the GOP to no party affiliation. Democrats saw 490 leave for the GOP and another 343 switch to no party. Among voters who had no party affiliation on Election Day, 747 have since signed up as Democrats and 381 have joined the GOP."

Oral Majority Greets President Gore
10-May-01
Al Gore

President Al Gore was greeted by a friendly but dissatified protest from Bob Kunst and the Oral Majority. "Welcome President Gore, you won, now behave like a President and demand a federal investigation of this election fraud and speak up about America's isolation to the rest of the world and Bush's 'war' on America, and that this was the time to speak after 5 months of silence." Now that we've learned the truth about Florida's stolen election, it's definitely time for Democratic leaders to speak out.

LePore's Iran-Contra Connection
10-May-01
Stolen Election 2000

The Wall Street Journal of December 1st, 2000 page one states: "'Madame Butterfly' Theresa Le Pore wasn't always an embattled Palm Beach ballots chief. In the 1980s she moonlighted as a flight attendant on private planes owned by Saudi weapons dealer Adnan Khashoggi, a middleman in Reagan administration arms sales to Iran." Here's a great site for conspiracy fans.

Theresa LePore of Infamous Butterfly Ballot Fame: Was She Working for the GOP All Along?
10-May-01
Stolen Election 2000

Back in November, we all wondered how the butterfly ballot, which just SEEMED intentionally fixed to throw the race to the GOP could have been designed by a DEMOCRAT. We were confused a bit suspicious. Now the other shoe has dropped. Ballot designer Theresa LePore has come out of the closet and officially declared herself a non-Democrat (she says she's now an Independent, but we aren't buying it). She belonged to the GOP in the 70s, then switched to Independent, then to Dem in 1996 just when the GOP really started playing dirty. She says she switched back to the "Independent" because the Dems were mean to her. Well, Theresa, maybe it's because NOBODY likes a double agent!

Jeb Bush went on CNN to discuss changes to Florida's election law, and anchor Carol Lin asked Jeb about racial discrimination against black voters. "I don't think that there was any overt discrimination," Jeb said. Lin pressed him on specific complaints from black voters: "being rejected at the polls, lists that were supposed to contain names of felons and yet also contained names of legitimate voters who were not able then to cast their ballots." Jeb said "many of those questions that you just posed have been looked at by the Justice Department and by the attorney general's office in our state. And they have been rejected as -- in terms of not having any kind of systemic effort to restrict people's right to vote." Jeb is LYING! Neither the Justice Department nor the Florida AG have examined the Felonious Felon Purge. We demand a full report by CNN about Jeb's lie - and about the Felon Purge itself, which has NEVER been reported on CNN!

On Monday, the Democratic National Committee went to Palm Beach for the first of four hearings on election reform. DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe was blunt: "There is nothing we can do about the last election. We won that election, and they stole that election," he said. "President [sic] Bush tells us to get over it. Well, we're not getting over it." Right on, Terry!

According to the Orlando Sentinel, "One of the best-kept secrets in Florida's disputed 2000 presidential election is that thousands of ballots that ultimately counted were never even filled out by voters. With no outside scrutiny, county officials on Election Day made new copies of at least 10,000 mismarked or torn absentee ballots that the counting machines initially couldn't read." This exposes the Big Lie at the heart of the Bush campaign's legal arguments, which were ultimately embraced by the Republican majority on the US Supreme Court - that ballots should NOT be inspected by humans to determine the intent of the voter. In fact, certain ballots - absentee ballots - were routinely inspected if they were rejected by machines, and carefully duplicated so they could be counted. We're sure the Republican legal team knew about this common practice before they argued their case in court - and if so, their lawyers should be disbarred.

Last week, Florida abolished punch cards and mandated optical-scan (SAT-style) ballots, with tabulators in each precinct to instantly check for errors. According to the Orlando Sentinel, optical-scan systems were manipulated in ways that had a racially discriminatory effect. Escambia County simply disabled the instant-check feature - and in majority-black Precinct 76, which gave Al Gore 93% of its vote, 16% of the ballots were thrown out. In Columbia County's majority-black Precinct 26, 17% of the ballots were rejected - yet election officials insist nothing was done wrong. In Bay Count's majority-Democratic Preinct 23, 15% of ballots were discarded - and election officials don't even care why. Overall, 64 optical-scan precincts with the highest discard rates produced 3,300 lost ballots. These precincts are 50% black and 72% Democratic. By extrapolation, Gore lost 1,452 votes in these precincts. We demand an investigation!

For the NY Times, the Truth About Florida's Felon Purge is Not 'Fit to Print'
06-May-01
Stolen Election 2000

It looks like the NY Times is working with Karl Rove to "scrub" the truth about Florida's illegal felon purge - and to keep its readers ignorant. For the second time in two weeks, the Times editorial page has obliquely mentioned the purge. But there has not been a single news article about it, explaining the facts. And this editorial dismisses it as "an error" - when it was in a fact a criminal conspiracy by Florida's top Republicans to prevent thousands of minorities from voting, and that conspiracy succeeded in stealing the Presidency. We demand the truth!

Open Letter to a Freeper about the Stolen Election
04-May-01
Stolen Election 2000

Michael Rectenwald, founder of Citizens for Legitimate Government, decided to answer FreeRepublic.com "freeper." "If you think our site is a joke, then here's the punch-line: we don't 'get over' a coup. Sorry, but it is YOU who are in dire need of information and help. You are either brainwashed by the media, or in a serious state of denial, or both. Your 'president' is a complete fraud and probably a coconspirator in the largest voting scandal in US history." You go, Mike!

Speaking at NAACP Detroit Brach's 46th Fight For Freedom Fund Dinner, branch President Rev. Wendell Anthony urged an audience 10,000 strong to turn up the heat on the Sunshine State and let it radiate through the country in a resounding message of election reform. "We don't want our people to take that election as the final blow," he said. "We have the right to question the Supreme Court." The Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), who chairs the Democrats' Election Reform task force, declared "There will be no punched card system in America if I have anything to do with it."

On December 4, Greg Palast broke the story of Katherine Harris' felonious purge of so-called "felons" in Salon. That story was Salon's "Political Story of the Year." Palast has done additional reporting on the story for The Nation, the UK Guardian, and the BBC, and uncovered important details about the conscious and criminal efforts of Florida's top election officials to remove eligible voters from the voter registration lists. Amazingly, this story has NEVER been picked up by any mainstream US news organization. The ice may be cracking, however - the New York Times obliquely cited the story in an editorial complaining about the lack of progress on election reform. Memo to the Times: why don't you tell your readers about Palast's explosive story? Is it not "fit to print"? Or are you afraid that this one simple story would cause Bush's entire house of cards to collapse?

IMF's Four Steps to Damnation
29-Apr-01
Globalization

When he's not exposing Florida's stolen election, Greg Palast exposes the forces behind globalization. In an interview with Joseph Stiglitz, former chief economist of the World Bank, Palast explains the four step program of fatal economic "bloodletting" administered by the International Monetary Fund.

The Democratic National Committee filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission on Friday, accusing a Bush-Cheney committee set up to manage the Florida vote recount of evading a new federal law on political spending. Bush-Cheney raised $8 million, which paid for lawyers and the rent-a-rioters who were flown down from Congressional offices in DC. Bush-Cheney claims it does not have to disclose how it spent the $8 million.

Judge N. Sanders Sauls was criminally wrong on December 4, 2000, when he ruled that there was no "reasonable probability" that the outcome of the election could be changed by counting 14,000 uncounted ballots from Palm Beach and Miami-Dade. In fact, Gore gained 784 from the Palm Beach Post's undervote count in Palm Beach alone - which would have made Gore the winner in Florida. As a reward for helping Bush steal Florida, Sauls is being honored by the Freepers in June, along with Katherine Harris. This has produced a storm of criticism from Florida newspapers. If you think it's wrong for a sitting judge to embrace a site that tolerates death threats against Democrats, join Media Whores Online in filing a complaint against Sauls with the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission.

Bu$h's Stolen Election Makes US Ineligible for FTAA
23-Apr-01
Trade

In order keep labor and environmental standards out of the Free Trade Area of the Americas, Bu$h substituted a "democracy clause" - which is ready to explode in Bu$h's face. The Quebec City declaration reads, "Any unconstitutional alteration or interruption of the democratic order in a state of the Hemisphere constitutes an insurmountable obstacle to the participation of that state's government in the Summit of the Americas process." Well, America's "democratic order" was altered and interrupted between November 7 and December 12, 2000 - when Republicans and the Supreme Court blocked hand counting of 180,000 uncounted legal ballots in Florida in order to install Bu$h as President. We will join with environmentalists and labor unions in bringing this urgent matter to the attention of the Organization of American States (OAS), which is responsible for guaranteeing democracy in the Western hemisphere. Let's put Bu$h's "democracy clause" to the test!

Meria Heller Interviews Greg Palast
22-Apr-01
Stolen Election 2000

Recently, Meria Heller interviewed Greg Palast for an hour. Palast is passionate about Democracy and knows the truth about how Bush stole the Presidency - a dangerous combination! That's why you won't see Palast on American TV, but you can listen to him here.

See Greg Palast's Expose on a local PBS Station
21-Apr-01
Stolen Election 2000

Greg Palast reports on the purge of African-American voters from the Florida election rolls - the purge that cost Al Gore the White House -on "The Calling," the new PBS series. See the local listings schedule here (scroll down to the bottom).

Freedom Forum to Hold Debate on Media's Role in the Stolen Election in NYC on April 26
21-Apr-01
Stolen Election 2000

Debate on First Amendment and ethical issues arising from TV coverage of the presidential election. Co-sponsored with New York City Bar Association's Committee on Communications and Media Law. Panelists: Steven Brill, Media Central and Brill's Content; Nancy Maynard, former co-owner, The Oakland Tribune, and author Jeffrey Toobin, New Yorker and ABC News. Moderator, Floyd Abrams, Cahill Gordon & Reindel and Columbia Journalism School.

Investigative reporter Greg Palast broke the story about Florida's illegal felon purge, which certainly cost Gore the election. In an interview with Michael Rectenwald, founder of Citizens for a Legitimate Government, Palast revealed some new details from his coming PBS documentary, "The Calling." This includes more proof that Katherine Harris knowingly approved of "loose" matching standards for felons, which violated the civil rights of an unknown number of legal voters. He also disclosed that Jeb Bush's Clemency Board has been illegally scrubbing its files, including one letter dated 9/18/2000 of which Palast has a copy. Once again, we demand an investigation!

Questions the U.S. News Media Refuses to Ask about the Stolen Election in Florida
10-Apr-01
Florida Recount

It has been more than three months since the U.S. Supreme Court violated all principles of law and stopped the counting of votes in Florida in order to declare George W. Bush the President of the United States. With the passage of time, we have learned many details about how Bush stole Florida, but the media remains adamantly opposed to examining these details. Here are some of the many crucial questions we believe the media needs to ask about the Florida election in order to find out the truth.

Protest FOX in New York on April 6
06-Apr-01
Democrats.com Events

On Friday April 6th between 12 and 2, DemocracyMarch.org, in coordination with Project Blackout, will hold a rally at Fox News Cable Studio at 6th Ave. btwn. 47th and 48th in New York City to protest the media bias which has resulted in a virtual media blackout of the stolen election - FOX cable news being one of the most egregious offenders. Speakers include Mark Crispin Miller, expert on media conglomeration and author of The Bush Dyslexicon; Bob Fertik of Democrats.com; Phil Berg, former Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania, filing Class Action Lawsuit to in Florida overturn Presidential Election; Maia Cowan, writer with mediawhoresonline.com and failureisimpossible.com; Chris Acosta Outreach Coordinator of Voter March; and Aton Edwards of the International Preparedness Network, interspersed with some entertaining interludes.

Investigative reporter Gregory Palast of the BBC and
London Examiner has broken a number of important stories about the stolen election, including the illegal felon purge by Katherine Harris. You can hear him discuss these issues - and his upcoming documentary - on Meria Heller's radio show on April 10, webcast live.

Racism on Nightline
03-Apr-01
Stolen Election 2000

After a virtual three and a half month media blackout on the Florida election story, on March 28th the ABC News show Nightline did a piece about what happened in Duval County. Actually, what Ted Koppel and his cohorts did was a shameful whitewash of what happened in Duval, reinforcing racist stereotypes of African Americans as incompetent voters who immediately and irresponsibly labeled every problem as a "race issue" without any justification.

Bush=Milosevic
02-Apr-01
Stolen Election 2000

Here is one of the charges against Slobodan Milosevic, according to the BBC: "Following the Yugoslav presidential election in September, the Federal Electoral Commission tried to deprive Vojislav Kostunica of victory by claiming that he received less than the required 50% of the votes cast. Five members of the commission are now facing trial for the falsification of results. The chain of command behind the ballot rigging could well lead to Mr. Milosevic." Substitute Al Gore for Vojislav Kostunica, and the US Supreme Court for Yugoslavia's Federal Electoral Commission, and you get the picture of what happened here - and who should be punished.

DBT Vice President James Lee said his company wanted to verify the felon list against property tax lists, telephone number lists and change of address lists, but Florida officials refused. "The list of voters DBT supplied to the state (to be used to delete felons) did include the names of people who were eligible to vote. The state officials knew this would be the result," Lee said. This is an intention denial of voting rights, and responsible officials should be prosecuted. We demand an investigation!
Black Caucus Members Hold Election Hearing in Georgia

Are Florida's Black Voters Paranoid - or Disenfranchised? Nightline Should Go Back and Get the REAL Story
29-Mar-01
Stolen Election 2000

Nightline and Ted Koppel presented the absurd notion that it is the responsibility of the Democratic Party to make sure that corrupt and/or incompetent GOP officials do not steal elections, and that if the Democratic Party does not make a Herculean effort to prevent the corruption of the election process by the GOP, the American people have no right to expect fair elections. Scapegoating the Democrats, and scapegoating black voters when the real culprits are GOP election officials who did not do their jobs (or did them illegally), is not merely absurd, it is an outrage.

Report from the Plainfield Protest
29-Mar-01
Democrats.com Events

As we left, there was a guy who walked with us and he said, you know, I feel the same way you do, but I keep telling myself I have to get over it, I have to let it go. And I said, no, you don't and don't you believe that. Communists get over stolen elections. Americans don't. You can be as angry about it as you want. Don't let them make you feel guilty about being angry about this... And he said, "thank you, thank you, I was feeling guilty."

Questions the U.S. News Media Refuses to Ask about the Stolen Election in Florida
29-Mar-01
Florida Recount

It has been more than three months since the U.S. Supreme Court violated all principles of law and stopped the counting of votes in Florida in order to declare George W. Bush the President of the United States. With the passage of time, we have learned many details about how Bush stole Florida, but the media remains adamantly opposed to examining these details. Here are some of the many crucial questions we believe the media needs to ask about the Florida election in order to find out the truth.

In the face of an open-and-shut civil rights law suit, Jeb Bush's administration has quietly changed a controversial voting policy that illegally removed as many as 2,834 names from the state's voting rolls last year. Florida denied automatic voting rights to citizens from other states who had their voting rights under those state laws. By one estimate,
Gore would have received over 90% of those ex-felons who chose to vote, so this illegal policy alone may have allowed Shrub to steal the Presidency.

Governor Bush snuck in and out of Maine today, but despite his secrecy and a spring blizzard, between 150 and 200 protesters showed up to greet him. People had come from all over Maine and a few had come from Boston. Their signs represented various causes like nuclear disarmament, the environment, the stolen election, taxes, health care, the sanctions against Iraq, and many others. Many people joked that the new administration is so bad that they had trouble even deciding which terrible, destructive policy to protest!

Right Wing Continues To Invert Reality With Scapegoating
23-Mar-01
Right Wing

"Conservative groups and lawmakers are raising concerns with the Bush White House that some Clinton administration appointees who are still in office may be engaged in efforts 'that undermine' President Bush's agenda." Sounds like more right-wing paranoia, like the bogus vandalism stories (created by the Karl Rove propaganda outfit) about departing Clinton officials. Right wingers have been especially demonizing Clinton holdover Ian Bowles as doing the evil work of trying to reduce emissions in the pro-pollution Bush White House. Check out this incredible bit of Orwellian doublespeak by Myron Ebell: "This was very worrying. We thought the election was a break in policies . . . [Bowles] is a zealot who believes that global warming is a problem and that Kyoto is the answer." Yes Myron, the stolen election was a break in policies -- of democracy. Meanwhile, (non-"zealot"?) Dick Cheney thinks that nuclear power plants are preferable to signing the Kyoto protocol. By the way, we remember the ultimate troublemaker left behind from the previous Bush administration -- Linda Tripp.

"Voter disenfranchisement appears to be at the heart of the issue. It is not a question of a recount or even an accurate count, but more pointedly the issue is those whose exclusion from the right to vote amounted to a 'No Count.'" So writes the U. S. Commission On Civil Rights.

Berry summarized the problems in Florida by saying, "Some very bad things happened to people who were trying to vote - many of whom were registered and didn't get to vote... a lot of those people were disabled, a lot of them were African Americans, quite a few needed language assistance, some were elderly voters and Jewish voters. A lot of them were people who were trying to vote for the first time and the system seemed not be open to solving their problems or figuring out a way to solve their problems."

Even the CIA Knows Shrub Isn't the President
16-Mar-01
Stolen Election 2000

Those of us who reject the legitimacy of Shrub have an unexpected ally - the CIA. Visit their homepage and you'll find a prominent link for the "World Factbook." Follow that to the U.S. Government and you'll discover the true President of the United States - and it ain't Shrub! ($5 says it's scrubbed by Monday...)

How Do Republican Thieves Live With Themselves?
16-Mar-01
Stolen Election 2000

During a panel on "The Future of Hollwood," Miramax chief Harvey Weinstein lit into Bush media adviser Mark McKinnon, who was in the audience. "You only won the election by copying Clintonian tactics," Weinstein barked. "And, by the way, you didn't win, and I don't know how you live with yourself." The audience was stunned - primarily because the 54 million Americans who did NOT vote for Bush have been biting their tongues, instead of speaking out. Right on, Harvey!

The Justice Department leaked word that it is investigating violations of the federal Voting Rights Act and the National Voter Registration Act during the November election in Florida. The investigation focuses on Hispanic voters, who were illegally required to produce two kinds of identification. No word whether Jeb and Katherine, the architects of the Republican voter disenfranchisement strategy, are targets of this investigation.

Are We Angry over Florida? You Bet!
15-Mar-01
Stolen Election 2000

In Florida, Shrub finally got a clue: "Some of the Democrats here want to keep revoting the election." Damn straight! Paul Begala said that when he gives speeches, people vent to him about Florida. He doesn't expect the intensity to lessen any time soon, especially as Democrats try to regain control of Congress in November 2002. "Democrats are going to be increasingly angry, and the angry party wins the midterm elections," he said.

Protests Greet Bush In Jacksonville
14-Mar-01
Stolen Election 2000

As Bush made his first visit to Florida since last fall's controversial election, Jacksonville Democrats and civil rights leaders rolled out a welcome mat filled with demands for voter reform and criticism of his tax cut plan. The noon rally Monday in Hemming Plaza downtown was one of three such events planned to coincide with Bush's trip to the home of the hanging chad. U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown organized the local event, which also was attended by labor and religious leaders. Other rallies were held in Orlando and West Palm Beach.

Shrub returned to Florida, the scene of the crime where he stole the Presidency with the help of Jeb and Katherine Harris. Shrub wants Florida voters to forget his crime, but they greeted him with street protests as well as TV and radio ads. As Rep. Corrine Brown (D-FL) said on January 6, "We will NEVER get over it. We will take it to our graves!"

Tell the Media - Gore WON!
12-Mar-01
Stolen Election 2000

The manual recount of Palm Beach ballots by the Palm Beach Post gave Al Gore 784 votes from undervotes and 6,607 from overvotes - 13 times what he needed to overcome Bush's 537-vote victory in Florida. When the Miami Herald reported on February 26 that Gore gained only 49 votes in Miami-Dade, every major news organization and talk show proclaimed that "Gore Lost." But now we know Gore WON - and we demand that the media give this the attention it deserves. Call talk shows and write your newspapers to demand massive coverage of the Stolen Election.

Here's a story you won't read elsewhere - from the Daily Racing Form: "Katherine Harris, Florida's Secretary of State who was a central figure during the disputed presidential election, was booed lustily by the 19,150 at Gulfstream on Sunday as she presented the trophy following the Rampart Handicap. 'I've never been booed in my life,' Harris told reporters in the winner's circle." That's because horse fans can tell the difference between the winner and the loser! (Notice the next story about Awol Honey - kinda nice nickname for W, isn't it?)

No Tom Davis, We Will NEVER Forget How You Stole the Presidency
07-Mar-01
Stolen Election 2000

"The public memory is very short," said Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), who chairs the Republican National Congressional Committee and will try to keep the evil Tom DeLay in power in 2002. "You saw how quickly impeachment faded from people's minds." No Tom, we have NOT forgotten the impeachment travesty. And we have NOT forgotten the endless lies, investigations and harassment of the Clintons. And most of all, we have NOT - and NEVER WILL - forget the Stolen Election.

Salon reporter Jake Tapper has dropped a bombshell. "According to a knowledgeable Republican operative, the Bush camp even discussed a strategy that, if implemented, would have broken the law: organizing a post-election get-out-the-vote drive among overseas military personnel who had registered to vote but had not cast ballots by Election Day." Tapper adds, "Was this plan, a blatant act of voter fraud, ever carried out?...whoever was involved isn't talking." As is their usual Goebellian M.O., the Republicans were quick to accuse the Gore team "of pondering an illegal post-election drive." But later, "the Bushies had shamelessly pulled a 180 on the overseas ballot issue." Rather than pointing out this slimy change in tactics, "the media's focus was on Gore's mad rush to disenfranchise American soldiers." Which was just another lie that the GOP had spoonfed the media whores.

PJ McIlvaine writes, "Dan 'The Watermelon Man' Burton and his Pardongate hearings are running out of gas faster than the Rocky the Bullwinkle balloon at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Having been cast adrift by his own party, and unable to come up with a scintilla of proof of any criminality on the part of Bill Clinton, our last legally elected President, Burton is now resorting to appearing on TV talk shows in his own rancid version of Duck Duck Goose... I'd like to suggest to Dapper Dan several ideas on what he should investigate next, since for damn sure it won't be Florida and the stolen election, electoral reform, Funeralgate, Bush's ties to Big Oil, Cheney and his questionable residency, black voter disenfranchisement, campaign finance reform, Bush's Baloney Budget, The Weasel's missing National Guard years, Jeb and Cruella De Ville's alleged affair and why is the Secret Service acting like the Bush Twins private taxi and baby-sitting service at taxpayer's expense."

According to Salon's Jake Tapper, only 446 overseas military ballots were received by November 13, two days after a Republican team discussed encouraging military personnel to cast illegal ballots. By November 16, "that number had swelled to 2,575. By the next day, it was 3,733." Were these ballots all sent before Election Day, or is this evidence that Bush illegally solicited ballots after Election Day? Also, the article describes how Bush operatives pressured county election officials into counting questionable military ballots, resulting in Bush gains of 300-400 votes - greater than Bush' 154 vote margin of victory. Did Bush win on ILLEGAL ballots???

The Republican Congress can't stop investigating Clinton. But it's high time they started investigating something important - namely, what went wrong in the 2000 election. Sign the petition!

Nurse Ratchet - Come Get Karl Rove!
02-Mar-01
Stolen Election 2000

Karl Rove, the chief architect and propagandist for the stolen election, has crossed the line into insanity. He not only believes his man won the election - he thinks there was a "realignment" making Republicans the dominant party in the United States. Stuart Rothenberg is way too gentle in pointing out that Bush lost. Hey Stuart - the margin was 540,000, which is nearly five times larger than JFK's victory over Nixon! What's the difference between Bush and the New York Giants? The Giants don't think they won the Superbowl.

Why Is America's Best Investigative Reporter Living in Exile?
02-Mar-01
Stolen Election 2000

When Greg Palast broke the news that Florida's election was stolen through a fraudulent purge of "felons" from the voter rolls, the story made the front pages - in England. But here in the U.S. - where 280,000 people were victimized by this crime - this story NEVER made the national news. Palast gives some of the reasons - but somehow neglects the single most important reason, which is that the corporate-owned media WANTED Bush to steal the election. That's why they continue to repeat the lie that Bush won Florida.

Democratic lawmakers on Thursday demanded an investigation into Database Technologies, which was paid $4 million by the state to purge felons from Florida’s voter rolls before last fall’s election. "By most accounts, this contract was an unmitigated disaster, which led to Floridians being denied the right to vote, and millions of taxpayer dollars wasted or misspent," wrote Democratic Leader Tom Rossin of West Palm Beach. He left out one other consequence - Bush stole the Presidency.

"If there was a call on Election Night that truly transformed political reality, as Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) noted, it was the second call of Florida -- for Bush. It was made despite the fact that the bulk of the outstanding ballots were from Democratic areas. Once Bush was declared president, the politics of the recount were tilted powerfully in Bush's favor. Absent that call, there might have been a real and complete recount in Florida." So writes columnist E.J. Dionne in the Washington Post.

Testifying before the US Commission on Civil Rights, Database Technologies executive George Bruder said Katherine Harris' office didn't care about the accuracy of the list of felons they compiled for removal from the voter rolls. "What we did was as per specifications of the division of elections," Bruder said. "They wanted false positives on search parameters to cast as broad a net as possible." While many counties refused to use this inaccurate list, the elections supervisor in Miami-Dade thought it was "mandatory" to use the list. As a result, an unknown number of valid voters - disproportionately black - were unable to vote.

BBC's 'Theft of the Presidency' Report Available on the Web
16-Feb-01
Stolen Election 2000

Investigative journalist Gregory Palast's report on the Bush/Harris
election scam can be downloaded until February 22. The 13 minute film covers Palast's expose of Database
Technologies, the firm hired by Katherine Harris and Jeb Bush that purged
thousands of Florida voters - mostly African-American - from the voter
registry. A highlight is Harris' Director of Elections, Clay Roberts, bolting from the
cameras exclaiming, "If y'all want to hang this on me that's fine!" The
program announcement promises, "For the first time: 'secret and
confidential' details of the agreement between the State and the computer
firm ... which show exactly how Al Gore was cheated out of 23,000 votes."

Database Technologies Inc. will come under scrutiny from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Katherine Harris paid the company $4 million to compile a list of felons, but the list was inaccurate, and contained many common names that resulted in the removal of fully qualified voters. The panel is rushing to publish preliminary findings and recommendations by the end of March to impact the legislative session, which starts in less than three weeks.

How TV Killed Democracy on Nov. 7
15-Feb-01
Stolen Election 2000

"Suppose that a first cousin of Al Gore had been running one of the network news teams issuing election night projections. Suppose that, having previously recused himself from a columnist job, saying his objectivity would suffer from family loyalty, this cousin had chatted with Gore six times on election day. Suppose that the same cousin had been first to declare Gore as the winner in Florida on election night, helping coax the rival networks to follow suit, leading George W. Bush to call up Gore in order to concede, thereby helping create a presumption that Gore was the duly elected president of the United States long before all the votes had been counted. Can anyone reasonably doubt that the pundits would be working themselves into a nonstop lather charging 'the liberal media' as accessories to grand larceny? Can we imagine, say, Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel right-leaning barking heads dropping the subject?" So writes Todd Gitlin.

The US Commission on Civil Rights is traveling to Miami on Friday, February 16. Among the allegations to be examined: persons were improperly purged form voter roles due to erroneous reports of felony convictions; voter lists did not include names of persons who had registered; properly filed voter registrations were processed too late for names to appear on voter rolls; polling places were closed early; polling places were moved without notice; some ballots were defective and confusing; officials failed to provide language assistance as requested; and officials failed to provide access to the polls for persons with disabilities. Call C-Span and CNN to make sure they cover it this investigation, which is far more important than Dan Burton's!

"Democrats can never accept the legitimacy of this Pretension. We can never accept the substitution of 'order' for 'legitimacy' as was suggested by Chief InJustice Rehnquist recently, and has been a parroting point for GE/NBC hack Chris Matthews. Elections are not simply a substitution of ballots for bullets. An election in a Republic is the expression of the will of the People, it is our franchise, it is our birthright. It has been trampled upon by the 'Republican' party and pistol-whipped into meaninglessness by a blatantly partisan court. What has happened here is a coup d' etat. Where do you 'move on' from there? Seizure of the State is an act of treason, and should be dealt with as such." So says Dane Cobb, Publisher of coldmountain.net.

How Do You Rectify a Grave Injustice
10-Feb-01
Stolen Election 2000

Amidst the journalistic drivel of the craven suck-ups, Eric Alterman's commentary on election 2000 stands out as a beacon of light exposing the truth. In this article, "Sorry Wrong President," Alterman speaks for us all when he writes: "As the new Florida counts appear to demonstrate even more clearly than before, George W. Bush and the Republicans hijacked the 2000 election with the help of their discredited accomplices on the US Supreme Court. They have no right to traditional forms of democratic deference, particularly when pursuing an unpopular extremist agenda. An honest media ought do everything possible to insure that no one loses sight of the astonishing circumstances through which Bush acceded to the presidency. Get over that."

On Valentine's Day, the House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold hearings on the election night projections by the TV networks. Republicans want to attack the networks (and their exit poll consortium, Voter News Service) for calling Florida for Gore 15 minutes before the polls closed at 8 pm EST. But it's the DEMOCRATS who need to demand answers as to why VNS and the networks called Florida for BUSH at 2 am, when the results were way too close to call. The erroneous call for Bush created a presumption among the public that Bush won - which the right-wing media exploited relentlessly to delay and ultimately stop a recount. CNN's own internal investigation makes this exact point. We know about Bush's cousin John Ellis at Fox - did the networks conspire with the Bush campaign to steal the Florida election? We demand answers!

South Florida resident Pam
Loertscher was outraged by media coverage of the stolen election. So she reached back into history and found frightening parallels in the legalization of dictatorship by the German Parliament (the Reichstag) in the Kroll Opera House on March 23, 1933.

I've been traveling overseas for the past few weeks on business, visiting Jamaica, Davos Switzerland, Cairo and various parts of Egypt. Everywhere, people want to know about the recent US elections. Here are a couple of recent conversations.

More on the DNC Coming Out Swinging
05-Feb-01
Stolen Election 2000

"It took some time, but McAuliffe becomes the highest ranking official to imply the obvious: this election wasn't won by George W. Bush, it was stolen. Furthermore, he has put Bush on notice that the DNC will treat him in the same manner that Clinton was treated. We can only hope that means they will open up the kennel doors and let the hound dogs loose. Can James Carville be far behind? We hope not.
There are two main aspects of political competition. First and foremost is the win-loss column: Who won an election, who lost? Who won the battle over a piece of legislation, who lost? Who won a confirmation fight, who lost?
Secondly, there is the battle to define the terms of the debate. In this conflict, the Democrats have been almost mute, with the exception of Bubba Bill, over the last decade."

Zack Exley Brings AOLTimeWarnerCNN To Its Knees
03-Feb-01
media

Zack Exley sure knows how to use the Internet to get attention. Zack created gwbush.com, which got Shrub so angry that he threatened lawsuits and screamed "there ought to be limits to freedom!" He created countercoup.org to protest the stolen election, and launched protests in 150 cities. He recently created CNNdN.com ("the financial crash network") to parody CNNfN's endless profitbabble, and guess what - he's being sued by the world's largest media conglomerate. You Go, Zack!!

As many as 15,000 demonstrators in San Francisco -- including doctors and nurses, postal workers and software engineers, teenagers and grandparents -- spoke out against what they called a stolen election. Some were die-hard activists, others had never joined a protest march before.

In his inaugural speech, Bush cited America's "faith in freedom and democracy." He also made a solemn pledge: "I will work to build a single nation of justice and opportunity." But Bush made no mention at all of the crimes against democracy and the massive INjustice that made him President - the election stolen in Florida by Jeb Bush, Katherine Harris, and the Republican majority of the U.S. Supreme Court. Is Bush planning to pretend throughout his Presidency that he won a just and democratic election?

Citizens for Legitimate Government will fly over Super Bowl XXXV in Tampa on on January 28th. This follows a Rose Bowl fly over on January 1, with a banner reading "Bush Lost--Protest 'Inaugural' in DC." According to CLG spokesman Michael Rectenwald, Bush's "presidency is not legitimate. Our Super Bowl
banner will remind the people of the real political score, and the Florida
venue will make our message all the more potent. Running out the clock is
an acceptable tactic in football, but not in a Democracy."

We are 445 Professors of Law at 104 American law schools, from every part of our country, of different political beliefs. But we all agree that when a bare majority of the U.S. Supreme Court halted the recount of ballots under Florida law, the five justices were acting as political proponents for candidate Bush, not as judges... By taking power from the voters, the Supreme Court has tarnished its own legitimacy. As teachers whose lives have been dedicated to the rule of law, we protest.

Just how they did it -- Florida's purge of African American Democratic voters
04-Jan-01
Stolen Election 2000

Not satisfied that 31% of black men in Florida are not allowed to vote because of a ban on felons, Secretary of State Katherine Harris employed a firm with strong Republican Party ties to remove as many as 173,000 Floridians from the voter rolls without any due process, notification, or legal recourse.

750,000 Protesters Expected in DC on January 20
21-Dec-00
inauguration

You read that right, 750,000. That would be one of the largest protests ever in DC. That's just another measure of how angry Americans are over the stolen election. Let's exceed all expectations!!

Clarence Thomas Lies Again - This Time to Children (Shame!)
14-Dec-00
Stolen Election 2000

Remember how Clarence Thomas lied during his confirmation hearings about sexually harassing Anita Hill? And his sworn testimony that he had never expressed a personal opinion on abortion and Roe v. Wade, making him the only right-wing ideologue in the country with no opinion on the most contentious issue of our time? Now Thomas is lying again by saying politics had nothing - NOTHING - to do with the Supreme Court's chain saw massacre of Al Gore and American Democracy. Worse yet, he told this lie to children, which deserves a special punishment all its own. Maybe the reason Clarence Thomas never speaks in oral arguments is because he might be held in contempt of court for lying. Come to think of it, now that the Republicans made lying an impeachable offense, it might be time to go over every one of Thomas's words with a fine-tooth comb...

Beyond the Supreme Court: 6 Ways Al Gore Can Still Become the 43rd President
13-Dec-00
Florida Recount

Even if the Supreme Court nullifies 40,000 undervotes in Florida, there are at least 6 ways that Al Gore could become President.

Jeb Bush's Political Career Is Over
08-Dec-00
Jeb Bush

Stick a fork in him. If you think folks are angry at Jeb now, wait until the truth of the stolen election comes out - and it will come out.

Yes, the Times of London is reporting that the Gore campaign is seeking an FBI investigation
of potentially massive vote fraud in Florida. The allegations revolve around thousands of ballots that were allegedly corrupted before voters even used them. Stay tuned!

Democratic Party activists (that's us!) have started an online campaign to challenge the results of the election in Florida and claim the U.S. presidency for Al Gore. Democrats.com has helped collect over 3,000 affidavits from Palm Beach voters who say a controversial ballot duped them into voting for the Reform Party's Pat Buchanan instead of Gore. We're also collecting an online petition calling for a revote. And we're encouraging activists to take to the streets.

Democrats.com launched TrustThePeople.com to help Democrats organize to make sure Al Gore is sworn in as President of the United States, as the people voted on Election Day. In our first day, we collected over 1,000 affidavits from Palm Beach voters who believe they cast a vote for Buchanan by mistake. We also launched a nationwide petition campaign demanding a revote in Palm Beach - so tell everyone you know to sign it!